Corpse Party: First Sight
by Shawn Raven
Summary: Kenneth Sakamoto always had a hard time with surviving as a half Japanese student in Japan, not to mention trying to adjust into a school where he couldn't care less about its students and its culture. However, his mind always falls back to something that has always trailed behind him, calling out to him with an enigmatic note. All it takes is one look, one look to know why...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I do not own Corpse Party, nor it's characters.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Rain

A home was many things to a family. To them, it was a sanctuary of comfort and rest, a place of assured protection, and the standing proof that they were together in one place, bonded by love, trust, and ties than run by blood.

Japanese families were especially was very committed to the strict roots of such a belief, with a good sense of discipline and duty, while a touch of unadulterated fun was here and there added to the mix. From all this executed to seemingly perfect detail, someone might say, the embodiment of a lovely family with loving and dutiful parents, with their kids growing up in a positive atmosphere with a bright future in the world is present here in land of the Rising Sun.

Kenneth Sakamoto's life however, was a whole different take on 'perfect' families here in Japan.

Here he was now, getting a tirade from his mother for acting like a jackass and abusing his sister.

"Give me a break already."

"You won't be getting any of that till you apologize to your sister!"

Ken murderously glared at his little sister, no more than thirteen, but already having the mental capability of a psychopath. Oh sure, trust her to bring her friends to this house and let them study for some bullshit project he couldn't care less about.

He should've at least anticipated the fact that they were all older than he thought they were, and it didn't help that all of them started to flirt with him…then moments later made an irreverent joke about his haircut.

Bimbos.

What really ticked him off was when one of them asked him to tone down the 'horrible music' he was trying to play on his guitar in his room. Apparently since they were in the middle of some important discussion and they needed pure silence, he got himself a rude interruption.

What, can't Japanese folk handle a little Iron Maiden once in a while?

Oh wait, of course not…they got their stupid pop culture fads to discuss, not their science project. He could hear the excited exchanges of various fashion trends and their boy crushes in school and in their movies. His sister in particular was getting in the heightened sense of their company that she apparently had gained after a while of trying to fit in with the popular clique of her school mates.

It was deplorably pathetic, and he as an older brother had to take action lest his sister fell into bad company...but he was actually less tolerable of house guests who did not live up to a fine standard of being house guests.

They were messing up the living room, to say the least. How can she just allow them to do that?

What he didn't expect was, once he started to reprimand them, they had to give him the evil eye, and then Misa his little sister to tell him to just - how did she put it – 'screw off and bleed you ears out with your shit music'?

Right, he did as told, minus bleeding his ears out because he enjoyed his music. If they were really going to keep this up all day, they might as well left him alone in his room in peace at least.

Not happening though.

The next thing that happened was that the pesky underage bimbos had the nerve to invade his room when he was taking a late afternoon nap, and then proceed to gawk and stare at his guitar equipment and posters pasted around the room.

When he woke up an hour later, his prized black Les Paul was missing, and so were his amplifiers and speakers.

He didn't need another warning to figure out that they were messing with his stuff without his permission, and of course royally screwing up guitar playing right there in the living room.

It made him wince to hear how badly they were singing and playing crude renditions of hit tracks while strumming their manicured nails over the Les Paul's strings.

Initially he wanted to march over, and ask them to politely hand over his guitar...until heard the loud sound of something…getting hit with blunt force.

He dashed to the living room and beheld his Les Paul custom with a freshly made large chip off its ebony body.

Silence so profound, the girls were all scared of Ken's dark expression, as if he would kill the person responsible for this act.

Misa vouched that her 'friends' just wanted to have a look at his guitar and it 'slipped'. She must've been thinking that they could escape and pass this off as an involuntary accident.

He provided his own statement by slapping her across the cheek with brute force than stunned both him and her friends. While Misa was crying on the floor, he angrily forced her 'friends' to hand over their phone numbers so that he could personally ask their own parents to repay for this damage, since his mind was intact enough not to mug the girls off right now, and he dismissed the thought of beating the living shit out of them.

He didn't hit girls…but be damned he was tempted to try.

They shakily complied and promptly left the house. Misa then bawled over that his brash actions would lead to her losing her 'cool friends' and she would be labelled having a thug of a brother.

Which led to an hour long argument, till their mother returned home from work personally to stop the two from ripping at each other's throats. Wouldn't be the first time this had happened…particularly for any reason whatsoever.

Anyway, explanations were given, hence this.

"I don't have to apologize for someone's stupidity which isn't my own." Ken crossed his arms indignantly.

Misa yelled, "You're full of it!"

"Says the dimwit who had the bright idea to break my guitar with the bimbos you hang out with!"

"Don't you call dare them that. I said it slipped, why you can't just - ?!"

Ken's hands reached out viciously for his sister's blond locks.. "Say that one more time and I'll tear you hair out!"

"That's enough! Both of you!"

Their mother, with a modicum of unnatural strength, managed to keep them both at bay, albeit their evil glares at each other. However, her attention was solely focused on Ken's angered state which had been known to lash out at the most inconvenient of moments.

"You shouldn't have hit Misa, especially in front of her guests like that for something trivial as this."

Ken brusquely pushed his mother's arm away from his chest. "Trivial?! My guitar is strictly off limits to anyone here but me!" He then glared at Misa, "Your friends are going to pay for the damages and I'll see to that."

"Mom, that's unfair to them!"

Izumi gave an angry look at her son as well. "Pay for the damages? What are you playing at Ken?"

"Hmph, I don't need to trouble you anymore than I should. Her friends owe me, technically."

"You will have none of that young man. Your belongings are not supposed to be the concern of others but yourself."

Ken's expression darkened. "What?"

"If you want to fix it, earn the money and be done with it alright. Problem solved."

Ken gritted his teeth. "You expect me to let this slide off? That guitar was a custom made birthday gift from Uncle Zimmerman -."

Izumi raised a hand, silencing him. "It doesn't matter who you got it from. If it's yours, then you should take responsibility for it, no one else should be doing that for you young man."

Misa was sticking a tongue out at his face.

The seventeen year old Ken, shook his head with disgust. Arguing would only increase the heat of the issue, and he for one couldn't stand arguments, and it was more aggravating when nothing ever went to his favor. What teenager in their right mind wanted to even be in one with a parent who constantly got herself in and out of work and hardly bothered about the going ins of the house she was in, or a sister barely reaching the stages of her adolescence and with a god awful voice shriller than a seagull.

"Fine."

He turn tail and walked back to his room.

"Ken, you get yourself back here and apologize to your sister this instant!"

Ken gave no reply, slamming the door upstairs in his room. Loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood around perhaps.

But he couldn't care less, he grabbed a pillow, buried his face in it, and screamed till his throat was dry.

* * *

He'd skipped dinner, again, having lost his appetite for anything edible and thought pleasing for the rest of the night. Izumi did not come up to even check on him.

Why would she even care anyway?

For what possibly could be the hundredth time, Ken lied on his bed, with an empty and bereft expression, and he drifted off into his mind. What encompassed the whole fabric of its existence was cold, dark and empty, kindly put.

"That guitar was the only thing that kept me sane in this place."

 _It's not that badly damaged…_

He gritted his teeth. Above everything else in his life, he loved music, and he took pride in that custom model, since it was his source of providing musical output. Admittedly he was a little relieved at the fact that it was only the body of the guitar that was mildly damaged and not the neck or the tuners that could seriously affect it's use.

But seeing something that was precious to him getting mishandled like that, it made him lose control of his cool. And he for one was usually a very nonchalant and aloof person.

"Can't be helped I suppose…" He sighed, turning over on the sheets. He would figure out a way to solve this minor problem, one way or another...

It was at this point where at his bouts of imposed loneliness would Ken stumble into an old friend. He would freely talk and communicate in a fit and normalized manner with this person.

Himself.

It was normal wasn't it? To have moments to talk to yourself and re-examine on the aspects and the things that have affected your life, all alone in your own safe place, where no one else but yourself can act and behave as you wish. He read that fact somewhere in Sherlock Holmes, or so he roughly understood. Truly an inspirational fellow that guy was. A little eccentric the character's methods were, but he knew how to spend his time nicely alone, and created an air of intrigue with his methodical mannerisms and nearly unparalled genius, whenever he's with his trusty sidekick whenever they solved cases beset with mystery.

Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't nearly narcissistic nor intellectually charismatic enough as Sherlock had been. The more he drew his thoughts and words out, he only received nothing in response that could alleviate this…emptiness.

More so was the lack of a Watson character at his side. Not that he needed one to being with.

Wait, why was he even thinking about Sherlock…when's the last time he read Sherlock anyway -

"Am I really this bored?"

He opted to reach for his MP3 player, but just as quickly lost the mood for anything remotely heavy nor relaxing. His mind couldn't even drift towards studying, much less his array of novels.

And he was not _going_ downstairs for the TV, that's for sure.

"I really have nothing to do…huh?"

His phone that was on his table, predominantly silent for the whole part of the day…vibrated on his table with a hitch of sound.

 _A message?_

Anything was better than just lying here on the bed. He wasn't that sleepy anyway for now.

"Hm?"

 ** _(HEY! Don't 4get to bring those extra notes for Maths you promised me tmrw! Thnx a bunch!)_**

His lips curled into a frown. Fingers typed away in the phone, replying to the message.

 ** _(You still haven't figured out the probable statements?)_**

It didn't take long for the phone to beep again.

 ** _(Heehehehehe, I fell asleep when teacher's was giving out her questions, n even after your explanations. Silly me huh? :p)_**

No kidding.

 ** _(I'll bring the notes. Do you need anything else? More private tutoring again?)_**

 ** _(Maybe…I dunno. I'll catch u later n I'll tell you kay?)_**

Ken sighed, switching his phone off.

First the problems back here in his lousy household and now he has to deal with a student, that he barely even associates himself with in school. Hasn't the tantamount of life's designs done enough?

He looked up at the night sky from his bedroom window. It was wide open, letting him get a glimpse at the dark blueish black sky…

The moon was half full. And it was a starry night.

Stargazing was an unintentional habit of his. Yet, it was not looking at the stars that entranced him with a universal beauty that could not be matched by earthly means, and neither was it simply wandering his eyes around the pinpricks of light that shone light years away from him, amid the endlessly black outcrop of space, that amazed him.

He couldn't fathom the reason why. But looking at them just…gave him serenity. Unbiased, unblemished, and pure...serenity.

Grabbing his pillow, he propped it on his bed stand and leaned on it.

He hummed a tune to himself. It wasn't likely to work after the first few tries, but if he relaxed enough and allowed his mind to relax…he just might be able to sleep even if he didn't feel it like right now.

He shifted his position to better look at the sky, when his eyes drifted towards a bottle of pills on the table.

"…"

He looked away for a moment, trying to focus back on stargazing. It didn't work.

So much for the unlikely therapy.

"Oh, one couldn't hurt…"

* * *

It was a rainy night.

The rain never seemed to stop here in this place. If one took a critical moment to think, it was a predominant background of an ancient piece of art that stood against the test of time, to keep its existence relevant. Without the background aspect of any artwork, how will it be noticeable and discerned from the otherwise blank environment it was in? It would be irrelevant, ignored, thrown aside…because there is no value on an empty background.

No value at all…

These rainy nights…the way it presented a never changing view of bleak skies, especially in a place like this, gave a mystifying, yet melancholic representation of sheer gloom.

She'd been so busy with being so focused on her hobbies, she hadn't even stopped to appreciate the rain and its beauty.

The consistent noise of those droplets hitting the ground…the greyness of the clouds, it made her smile. It was so beautiful…this gloom fitted this place nicely.

CREAK!

Her beady black eyes swivelled at the sound of the floor. Short, shallows gasps of air greeted her blank stare.

The boy dressed in a white school uniform and black pants stepped back, his own features filled with dread. He was profusely sweating from running for a considerable amount of life, as if his life had depended on it. To affirm the idea, his barely noticeable green hair was dishevelled badly and body was smeared with traces of dust and grime. If the lighting in this place couldn't be any worse, a splotch was present on the uniform as well.

It was blood. Not his own as far as he can tell.

However the little girl in front of him had the answer. He just saw her moments ago. She was with his friend…what's left of him anyway…

He ran away, for the third time so far, hoping for a sliver chance to escape from her sight. Apparently it was futile, the girl showed up everywhere he was at without fail. As if she instinctively knew where his blind adrenaline pumped senses was going to bring him.

The little girl smiled at him. Her lips stretched at the corners of her mouth.

It was all it took for the boy to choke his raspy breathing and stumble, falling on his behind. He tried to pick up his legs, but it felt numb from the ceaseless running he'd been doing earlier.

The little girl kept smiling, advancing slowly towards the teenager. As much as the rain-gazing was nice...she preferred her hobby any time. Her hobby always had her undivided attention and enjoyment maximized.

The boy faltered in his efforts to get up and keep running. His eyes were unimaginably wide with panic and fear at the shuffling feet, red dress, and a wide smile.

A glint of steel. Rusty, but painfully sharp.

"I see you…" The girl laughed. The high pitched laughter that screeched off the four walls of the building was too much to take for the boy.

He screamed.

The girl just kept smiling.

* * *

It was 3.a.m. when Ken jolted out of bed.

"What the…?"

There was no vivid dream, neither was there a nightmare that could've done that. His bladder didn't have a late night warning either…it was just blissful empty sleeping.

Why on Earth did he wake up at such an unconventional hour?

Above it all, sweating his ass off. He cursed briefly, taking off his shirt and tossing it on the floor.

He sighed, staying in his sitting position and breathed in long mouthfuls of air, steadying his suddenly racing heart. He looked around in his room…and everything was at place. His band posters pasted on the walls, guitar stand unmoved, study desk still cluttered with guitar tabs and schoolwork…

Even his little stuffed monkey was still lying neatly beside him.

The curtains of his window were billowing…wait?

The air had gotten colder. He hadn't shut the window, of course. That's why the curtains were…

Sighing again, he got out of the bedsheets and closed the windows. The winds at the nights were getting pretty harsh lately…thunder was flashing in the skies, plus he saw a vague branch flying in the air. A drizzle was already falling down on the barely light trees of the neighbourhood he lived in, then slowly as he kept watching…a downpour started, the droplets now following the wind's direction to viciously splatter the pavement and reverberate on the rooftops.

Were gales this uncommon around Japan? He'd only been here in for a few months already…no, that was too quick a rash criticism of the weather around here. Plus this occurrence usually happened at late nights…at least, that's how he saw it…every time he'd wake up…

He scratched the back of his head, a habitual thing, while his half lidded eyes gazed at the desk. He calmly brushed aside the half written tab lines he recorded…when did he record that?

Never mind, the memory will come back to him later. For now, his bothered mind made his hands brushed across the books he arranged on the small rack on the top shelf, then reaching for the one that laid haphazardly beside the corner.

The journal was as simple as it can get, really. Bought for a measly price of a thousand and half yen (the value of the currency he noted was ridiculous) Adhesive binding, light purple fabric, eighty pages thick…forty of which have been filled.

He flipped it open and penned down the following words.

 ** _Fifteenth time I've woken up to a storm outside here. One hundred and thirty six days of being here in this country._**

 ** _Keep the logical thought in our head. It's just a coincidence. As always._**

Why the hell would anyone wake up right on a storm's occurrence anyway? The thunder wasn't that loud.

 _A gale's blowing out. Saw a branch flying. Nothing out of the ordinary...maybe…that blotch below the street light –_

 _Did my eyes play a trick on me…I…I saw something out there…it's just a dark shade under the light… something…something on the light was it?_

 _Did I really see that?_

He gritted his teeth. And he scribbled out the last sentence, shutting the journal and getting back into his bedsheets.

Nothing else was seen more than a bothersome 'coincidence'.

He didn't even internally question why he was sweating when he returned to his slumber minutes later. Not that he bothered…he grew tired of asking himself the question ten times before and eventually gave up, letting the afterthought slide. Like this.

If he'd been any less focused after being woken up earlier, he'd have noticed that the shade under the streetlight he was looking at, amidst the rain and winds beyond the glass window that blurred his already sleepy vision, was still there.

A second later it vanished.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I do not own Corpse Party, nor any of its characters but my OC himself.**

* * *

Chapter 2: First Timer

 _Kisaragi Academy, the only school within a radius of fifteen miles from his house. Accommodating more than seven hundred students, a formal dress code for the student body, and a pretty decent curriculum, added with a history of on and off academic and sport achievements, it seemed like a normal Japanese school any normal Japanese students would normally enrol in._

 _He was the odd one out though. While foreign exchange programs were a thing in Japanese schools, full time foreign transfers here however was not practiced. Not in these parts anyway. Plus, it wasn't really the cost of the transfer procedure that bugged him, since that was easily taken care of…and neither was the fact he came from a learning institute nobody in Japan probably heard about to an everyday Japanese school he has never heard about._

 _He was more concerned over the fact he would be in a setting filled with entirely new characters outside of his comfort zone. And he had a very limited comfort zone._

 _Izumi dropped him off at the school gates. She had an important meeting to attend to and she had to miss getting a briefing on the foreign transfer procedure._

 _The same damned excuse she gave on the orientation day._

 _Anyways, the moment he entered here…simply put, he got lost within the first ten minutes._

 _All those signs giving directions to various places located in the school…ugh, he should've bucked up his Japanese properly before getting shipped here. He nearly went into the wrong class, that too he suspected to be of a lower grade that the one he was studying in._

 _Thirty minutes passed of him walking aimlessly…and in the end, he gave up, slumping on a wall, in an empty hallway somewhere along in the third floor. He nearly started babbling to himself about how he didn't deserve to be in this shithole where the language barrier was one of his main fucking problems -._

 _"_ _ **Excuse me, shouldn't you be in class young man**_ _?"_

 _Medium length brown hair, an uncommon lovely figure, purple eyes and an inquisitive smile. The first thing what he noticed about the teacher was…hot. Then only did he catch the other exterior traits present on her. She fitted every aspect of a teacher that he…well…more or less envisioned in his head. Well-dressed, kindly expressions and an aura of positivity…without any negation in those eyes of hers -_

 _Then his stomach did a double take when she asked him a whole different question._

 _"_ _ **What's with the blank look? Are you…"**_ _She paused for a moment_ , _then squinted her purple eyes curiously. It was like she got the brighter picture of what she was looking at._

 _"Um…you're not from around here are you? Are you a new student?"_

 _Fluent English, what are the odds of that?_

 _"Not particularly…ma'am. And yes to the second question."_

 _She giggled. That was a ridiculously cute giggle, he noted. "I'm hardly old enough to be called ma'am. What's your name?"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Your name?" She asked again, kindly._

 _"Oh, it's uh…Sakamoto. Kenneth Sakamoto."_

 _She was surprised. Definitely because of his first name. Guess most Japanese don't usually meet a half-breed once in a while do they?_

 _"You're the new transfer." Elation was not quite he expected from her. Unless of course she was a teacher who got herself informed that a new student was being enrolled in her class…and she would accidentally happen to stumble into that student…now?_

 _Wait, what…?_

 _"Mr Sakamoto? Would you please introduce yourself to the class?"_

 _He must've looked stupid, because he remembered staring at her for quite a while, even when she had personally brought him to the dean's office. Mr Kedouin had explained to him that his father had paid good money to enrol him into the school and he expected no less than Ken to prove his worth, and went through several rules that Ken had to etch in his memory. Basically it was the standard new student comes to new school procedure thing…that he remembered was already explained on the orientation day._

 _The old bag was jarringly strict…and radiated an undeniable superiority that made him cringe._

 _Again, probably because he's not fully Japanese and the good dean here wanted to make things clear that the culture practiced in this learning environment here was hardly Western._

 _He kept his temper and patience in check…responding in short simple sentences when the dean ran through some questions, nothing personal…just how he got here in Japan again and how he was adjusting so far._

 _After that, Ms. Yui had assured the dean she will handle things from here, as the second period was already approaching and she had to get to her class. Surprisingly the dean calmed down a little and had sent them both off. Was this how all principals in Japan personally greeted new students and foreign transfers? Lecture them like a drill sergeant and wishing them good day once they're done?_

 _"Mr Sakamoto?"_

 _A few students where snickering at him, one of them a bleach blonde with a black jacket and a bored expression._

 _He coughed and examined his new surroundings properly. Thirty students in one class. A few empty desk present haphazardly among the orderly arrangement of the class. A short bluenette was giving him a hard gaze, as if…wait, was he being evaluated while he himself was doing his own evaluation?_

 _Something rang in his head that she doesn't look like fuck-me-around type, despite her short fragile stature and baby-ish face._

 _"Excuse me for not speaking in Japanese…my mastery of the language is woefully inadequate for now. You guys cool with that?"_

 _No response. Just mutterings and whispers exchanged between a few of the students present here._

 _He sighed, and picked up a chalk and wrote his name in kanji and in English on the blackboard. "Okay…my name is Kenneth Sakamoto, and judging from all the looks I'm receiving…yes, I am not exactly Japanese like the rest of you are."_

 _He stopped momentarily, giving a smirk, for he could tell their attention was finally directed on him. "Half Japanese, half…English."_

 _"KYAA! Half English?! I got dibs on this one!" Laughter ensued in the class, even the teacher gave a short giggle._

 _Immediately did he cringe at the sight of…some girl looking at him with barely concealed excitement? A short haired brunette next to her was covering her face with embarrassment, like she made it clear she had no remote association with the girl…though it seemed pretty obvious from how she was reacting everyone else thought otherwise._

 _"Anyways…I moved here to Japan from Portsmouth a week ago. Still trying to get myself used to…this country and its perks. Hopefully my expectations here can be matched nicely being in this quaint environment."_

 _Nothing wrong with being awkward, no? First timers usually unnecessarily garner much attention…not counting that he was a foreigner to begin with…_

 _"Arigato…" And why did he raised two fingers up with a sheepish looking smile? The loud chorus of cheers following suit from the class did not reassure him one bit. Glares in between were still directed…and much before he even entered the building itself. A few muttered curses in Japanese still rang in his fresh morning mind._

 _He was positively sure, things were not going to go smooth one bit. A contradiction to that statement may come somewhere in between…but…_

 _Better buck up mastering the language first, baka. Work on surviving this school term later._

* * *

Kenneth stepped out of the shower, cleaned up and wet…yet his mood wasn't exactly bright.

He was never a morning person. Yet, school was a duty he could not ignore. Rather tolerate in truth.

His self-arranged morning routine was simple. Wake up at 6.30, shower, get dressed breakfast, pack up your lunch, then get yourself in the 7.30 bus and walk from one of the bus stops that was near Kisaragi Academy. He'd accustomed quickly, mainly from his own personal drive of not bearing to even to be driven to the school.

Most of the time, he was the only one present in the house between 6.30 and 7 a.m.

Izumi had already left the house, and Misa must've taken the early bus to the school.

One had a schedule to keep. The other one had pride instead.

He calmly devoured the red bean bun that was his breakfast and left the house.

Thursday today was no different for his routine. While he was on the bus, he'd calmly pay the fare to the driver and he'd have the habit of staring out at the window on his preferred seat all the way to his stop, with nothing but contemplation. Just pure contemplation about these new sights he wasn't getting used to as the bus passed along the southwestern part of Fujisawa City towards Kisaragi Academy located just a mile away from the town itself.

An intersection with a traffic light came right after he stepped out of the bus, and ten minutes later he arrived at the school gate, being greeted by a large stream of students of varying ages of thirteen to eighteen were entering the school yard, and into the main building.

The crowd was tittering between bonding and individualism. Friends and enemies were abound, along the puppy lovers, bullies and troublemakers, and the social ladder denizens were present amongst them. A mess of Ken didn't bother to check who was which, he was already well versed with the personalities present in a learning environment. That's one good thing about being a new school…he was at least prepared to anticipate various characters without looking like a totally goof.

He was among the individualists, and with good reason. No one seemed interested in his company and the pleasure was returned likewise.

However, therein lies another problem. Without any familiar faces to guide him through…he would be lost in this place again. Did acquaintances really count enough to help him? He did have…well a number of them in the class he was in.

Was the class rep considered enough? She did show him around the school as per requested by Ms Yui…and while the short blue haired girl had been nice enough, she was prone to be showcase her annoyance every now and then when he had zoned out in the club rooms and the track field.

Other than her…he never really associated much with anyone else but Ms. Yui. He was comfortable enough with just them…though he already barely talks to them both…

"SAKAMOTO-KUN!"

His ears twitched and his blood froze. _This early?!_

All warning bells rang in his head. He recognized the overly excited squeal within a thousand metres .That was his cue to run like hell before the owner of the voice attacked him with non-flinching effect. This time…this time he had to escape…

This will be the day he'd escape from her clutches…

She was already running at him with full effect…he could already sense it!

 _RUN YOU FOOL!_

Barely did he started sprint. Five seconds later he was tackled from the back and his forehead hit the cemented ground. A few students stopped to gawk at the scene. Some more laughed.

"Gotcha!" The cheery voice of a girl, who was apparently crazy enough to associate herself intimately, ahem strictly one sided intimacy, with someone like him, greeted him while his face was on the cemented ground.

He did not want to return the intimacy though. Period.

He groaned, annoyed because dust and dirt had been smeared on his pristine white uniform. His forehead must've been bruised because the skin stung when he tried to move it, simply to give a glare at the girl…who was still on top of his back.

"Seiko…please get off me. Now."

"Nope!"

Why in public? WHY?! She couldn't have picked a better time than now?

He felt her chest pressing against him from the back, scratch that, she was practically rubbing it on his back. A hot flush came over his face, thankfully it couldn't be seen by anyone right now.

 _NO…NOT AGAIN!_

"Argh! Get off me!" He forced his hands to lift himself up. However the girl in the tan sailor uniform and blue skirt, Seiko clung on to him, giggling lewdly. His arms gave way, unable to carry his prone form that was being weighed down by the girl. He slumped on his chin, with defeat riddling his features.

"Seiko!" Ken heard the voice of another girl somewhere. It was Seiko's best friend and classmate, Naomi Nakashima. She had jogged over to them both and was giving Seiko a scolding glare.

"This is why you had to rush so early today?"

"Eheheheheheh…" Seiko was flushed.

A sigh escaped the girl's lips. "Come on, Seiko. Get off Sakamoto right now."

Her whine made him fluster. "But I wanna hold him tight much longer!"

A breath of air rushed Ken's lungs when he felt Seiko's weight…pulled off him. He scrambled to get himself up, much to Seiko's 'apparent' displeasure. Naomi started to apologize profusely to the still annoyed Ken, while keeping a sheepish Seiko tightly in her arms. "Sorry Sakamoto-san."

"I'm fine, Nakashima-san. Thanks." He dusted his shirt off and picked up his fallen briefcase. All the while he was keeping his head low, away from the insinuated looks directed at him.

"Oi Sakamoto! Get a room will ya?!"

"Piss off!" Ken shouted at the teaser, who laughed along his friends. He glared angrily at the two girls, who did not dare move under his gaze. Naomi was trembling…however, Ken was focused on the twin curled brunette though…who was pouting at him. She actually had the nerve to pout like a kid when he's giving her his angry face.

 _Ugh…damn you Shinohara. How the fuck can I be thinking of that now?! Damn the nerve of this bratty little -!_

"Keep your cat on a leash Nakashima."

Naomi blinked. What was that supposed to mean?

Seiko however, cried excitedly on the top of her voice, surprising her friend till she accidentally released her. "He called me a cat!"

((Seiko morphs into a cute brown and white kitten outstretching its paws at Ken. Still annoyed, Ken flicked a finger on her the 'cat' Seiko's forehead, comically making her fall. Seiko returns back to human form and Naomi sheepishly catches her again.))

Naomi sweatdropped. "Got it." Seiko whined, rubbing the part of her forehead where Ken had hit her.

Ken shook his head, still peeved, and proceeded to walk off into the building. He quickly opened his locker and grabbed his uwabaki slippers in exchange for his shoes.

 _That was close…_

Unfortunately his lapse of relief was precisely momentary the moment he shut the locker. This time she was directly before his way, shyly clutching her hands behind her back.

"What now?"

"Sorry."

A simple word, nothing much in context but sheer honesty. Ken thought for a minute whether or not he should accept the apology from this girl.

Seiko Shinohara. Averagely above her five feet stature, an energetic and cheery personality and an insanely perverted side to make her look like the combo package boys and girls alike cringes at and loves at the same time in a school she studies in.

How has the school not suspended this possible sex offender/mental defect?

This was the same girl who on every occasion would suddenly molest him from out of nowhere mainly to flirt with him. If that wasn't enough, she would have to loudly announce his name, whether or not to intentionally embarrass him every time she caught sight of him either spending time alone in the courtyard bench trying to have some peace and quiet, in the library studying…heck even the boy's changing room after gym class was no exception.

For five months. Five bloody months. It was uncomfortable for him but funny to everyone else who bore witness to every moment Seiko Shinohara of class 2-9 attacking and perversely 'romanticizing' with her foreign classmate from England.

At least that's what every student in here was gossiping about. In their group circles and amongst strangers alike in this school. How he fucking hated being the centre of attention…especially when it's completely unintentional to begin with, and even more when it's actually insinuating his credibility as a human being.

He was lucky no couple rumours were mentioned. Just lucky because everyone was already too fixated to laugh on about Seiko's various other sexual innuendos on Naomi. And maybe a handful of others he couldn't remember about.

However…there was another thing he loathed about her.

Why did she have to be gosh darn cute and having a bust that surprisingly fitted her?! It just made the whole situation twice as ridiculous!

He gritted his teeth. "Whatever."

Seiko just kept smiling at him. He turned his head away, not wanting to fall prey into the alluring cheap trick most cute girls would do to seduce unsuspecting boys.

"Got the notes?" She asked sweetly.

"Huh?"

"GOT THE NOTES?!"

Ken nearly stumbled when she shouted so loudly in his ear. He glared at her again, promptly opening his briefcase and dug through the files, keeping a watchful eye at the expectant Seiko, should she lunge and embrace him again.

He brandished a few papers containing notes pertaining to probable statements and Algebra, a topic in Mathematics that he had to stay up for a few nights to detail accurately for…her.

"Here. Please take a good look at the notes and try to finish your homework."

Seiko calmly accepted the notes. Her docile state right now was unnerving him just as much as her bubbliness was.

"Thanks a bunch Sakamoto-kun, you're a life saver!"

"Mmmm…yeah yeah. Just don't make your working look too obvious…else Mrs Takanaka will catch the hint and we'll both have our asses on the line for detention…and uh…"

Seiko leaned her face closer to his. "Are you worried about me?" She was grinning like she got herself a lifetime supply of candy.

The veins on his forehead bulged. "Like hell I would! I'm not getting into trouble because of you being incapable in a single Maths topic."

Seiko pouted. "Geez, no need to get all tense on me."

"In front of a hundred over students who I imagine must be wide awake looking at such a hilarious scene back there that you initiated…I am pretty tense right now."

"Was it that funny?"

"What do you think?"

Seiko took a second to reply confidently. "Beats me, I just came by…ehehehe…and wanted to collect those notes, and see how you're doing on this fine morning."

 _Seriously?_

"Well I'm not happy and I'm grouchy as usual. Does that answer your question? The same question you'd be asking every time after you molest me?"

Seiko clutched her hips, giving him a kitty smile. "Don't make it sound so bad. Plus I've always liked this grouchiness as much as I like to grope Naomi! Except she doesn't try to antagonize me a lot…but…whoa, that would be kinky actually." She started to giggle to herself lewdly at the unexpected fantasy she was having.

 _Weirdo._

"Yeah yeah…keep dreaming you little minx. Better haul your butt over to class before the bell rings."

On cue, the school bell echoed. DONG DONG DONG…DONG!

Ken's eyes widened unimaginably. How cliché was that?

Seiko was left behind at the building's entrance, amused by how fast her classmate ran to their class seconds later.

* * *

"Seiko?"

"Hmm?"

Naomi bonked her head promptly, with a taut look.

"Ow."

"You deserved that. Sakamoto-san was embarrassed beyond his wits back there."

Seiko pouted, rubbing her head. "I was just teasing him…"

Naomi shook her head in disagreement. Seiko's over the top antics might be amusing to all who they've associated and befriended themselves with for quite a number of years, and they have a lot of people here willing to vouch for that, even the teachers. It was strange to see how childish a seventeen year old could be in an esteemed local school, and this can be passed off as normal behaviour on more than one occasion.

Everyone may pass over this fact easily because of how familiar Seiko's presence and personality traits was for them. However her crass attitude was more at one time one of Naomi's many concerns for her friend. She was worried that it would backfire someday should it leave a negative impact on a person who…well, more or less might be annoyed with her personality.

Somehow she felt that day was steadily approaching.

"Teasing or not, it just didn't feel right to just ambush him like that in broad daylight, especially in front of the school...where mostly everyone was present."

She added with a sigh. "He's still new here in this school and he's…well...you know what everyone _still_ thinks about him."

A moment of silence passed between the two friends. They were both aware of the matter involving Ken that only a few people in the school sympathized with. They were included. However speaking about it, out loud especially was a strict taboo. School…and personally made rules said enough of course.

Seiko gazed at the direction where Ken had rushed off to. She felt a twinge of familiar sympathy creeping through her gut. She was aware of her immature antics most of the time.

But she never intended for it to rub off in a wrong manner towards anyone.

When Ken had arrived in Kisaragi Academy, and became their new classmate, Seiko wanted to give a good impression on how welcoming this school would be for a new student…with her being an unofficial spokesperson for that matter.

The decision itself was made on the first day.

And everyone knew when it comes to Seiko to help someone else for their benefits...events that will happen next following her efforts tend to be…exaggerated.

She wasn't anywhere near spokesperson material to begin with. Plus Ken was awfully grouchy and moody the first time they personally met. Like cranky-old-person-kind-of-grouchy-and-moody.

"He's still not taking things easy around here..."

Naomi crossed her arms over her chest. "Weren't five months pretty obvious?"

Seiko however gave a wide berth of a smile. Turns out she did not catch Naomi's sarcasm appropriately. "Guess I just gotta step up my game even further! Don't try to stop me Naomi. All Ken needs is some more positive reinforcement, even if I have to force it on him, and sooner or later he'll warm up to this place!"

(Seiko stands with a balled fist in a sparkling background with smiley faces pasted everywhere)

"Maybe you could cut the trying to violate his privacy and instead do something…nicer?" Naomi suggested in a mild tone.

"Hmm…should I give him a kiss outta nowhere then?"

Naomi could only stare at her friend with an incredulous look. Why on Earth did she make it her personal mission to give this foreign boy a hard time?

Luckily though…her friend, Ayumi could answer that for her.

That is, if Ayumi was in a good mood…nor lecture her about being ten minutes late to class right now.

Make that eleven minutes. Great.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I do not own Corpse Party, Team Gris Gris does.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Morning Sickness

Most school classes were supposed to be uneventful, and Ken was only saying this in a general manner. Mediocre mood setting with four walls of bad contrast and bored students who tolerated with either jittery greenhorn teachers or prejudiced middle aged bozos who took up the job for the cash and to haul the students into a good seating place in colleges for the sake of their career affiliations. He expected no less than that when he was enrolled into Kisaragi Academy.

He was wrong. And somehow, he missed all that right now. He'd been accustomed to such a teaching environment back in Portsmouth.

In this class though, where the students were happy, check that, elated and joyous to be _learning_ and with a young and fresh homeroom teacher who was actually _dedicated_ to her job, it made him nauseous to be honest. Quite nauseous till he had to drink his entire canteen dry. He hoped he could find the vending machine around here once this was over.

He was not sure if he could ever get used to something like this.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Hmm?" Ken glanced at his right.

"You've been staring at your paper for ten minutes." Morishige supplied in a bored manner. "And the grammar work in here is actually no different than what secondary level students would learn, where you come from of course."

That was true. He could've done this no less that the ten minutes he wasted staring emptily at the paper.

"I'm not really in the mood to answer this quiz, Sakutaro."

The blue haired boy shrugged. "Suit yourself, but you might want to tell her why." He gestured with a jerk of a head towards Yui, who was sitting on her desk, grading some assignments handed to her from the students of the other classes she taught at. She was totally focused on her work, and was relaxed, and calm.

The carefree smile of hers was present.

For a moment, Ken felt guilty having to disrupt the positive mood she was having.

He cared not for the first three periods that involved the other teachers. Takanaka was always peeved at him being able to solve the homework without much flaws, and even inventing his own methods instead of using what she taught to finish it quicker than anyone else in the class. However for Japanese language with Hinagi and Economics with Mikami, he was commonly ridiculed and had been kicked out on one occasion. It wasn't his fault he was average and poor at both classes respectively, he barely could deal with Japanese written work let alone speaking it, and economics were hieroglyphs.

But that didn't mean they had to showcase their displeasure at him. Those three just hated his guts that's all. Add that with at least two more, P.E. and Chemistry jackasses, who loathed him, and he's basically considered a teacher's pest.

Yes, he made that up to conform original phrase, 'teacher's pet' because he thought it sounded fitting. Deal with it, reality.

Ms Yui though…he -

"Fuck this."

A few heads glanced at him, with curious and displeased looks. Ken stiffened when Ms Yui's attention itself had been caught.

"Sakamoto?"

Ken lower lip trembled. "Teach…I mean, Sensei?"

"Finished already, Sakamoto-san?"

"Um…no, not yet. Haven't started…to be honest."

"Is it too difficult for you?"

Was she paying attention to a few students present who begged to differ with their downtrodden expressions?

"No. It's not."

"Then…why do you sound…displeased?" She trailed off.

 _She heard that? Great, just great._

"I…I know…but it's just…that, I ah…"

 _By God, stop stuttering will you. She's not gonna whip your ass senseless!_

"I just need to be excused for a few minutes. I'm feeling nauseous right now. Morning sickness."

She sounded resigned, as if she had been expecting something that sounded positively disappointing from the likes of him. "I see. Don't take too long alright, we still have twenty more minutes until this quiz is over."

Ken briskly got up from his seat, leaving the classroom before Yui could ask him if he was alright.

And Morishige got a good look at their teacher's face. She was upset.

* * *

When he got to the toilets, the first thing he did was bang his fist on the perfectly tiled wall. The cement and ceramic gave no way though, just leaving a dull pain on the bottom of his fist.

He still felt like breaking something though…for no apparent reason. Do you need a reason to break anything not of personal importance? It was called vandalism dumbass.

"Fuck fuck…fuck…what is wrong with me?"

He turned to look at himself in the mirror. He could still see the bruise Seiko had etched on his forehead, and his clothes were slightly disheveled. Goodness, add that with his edgy haircut and he practically had the look of a bloody delinquent.

Being called a troublemaker might've been tolerable enough.

Gripping the sink's edge tightly, he switched on the tap and splashed water on his face. He didn't recall how many times he did it though, but by the time he stopped, his shirt's neckline was drenched and drops of water were already dripping down his stubble.

A glance at his watch. It was 12:00. Better head back to class, he still has to finish the quiz.

That's the thing...it's not like he wanted to be in the class. It's just…that…he was too good for it. Yes, that was it. An undisputed fact.

Yes, he excelled better than any of them. He's done jackshit better, and wouldn't mind to prove it to show that he's better than any of those morons could ever do in here, and it'll be no different even in college.

Did that really meant he was already academically qualified to excel his teacher though?

He sighed. He didn't mean to hurt her…

* * *

Being an ex-student with many bountiful past memories, and then now a fresh teacher in her beloved school, Yui Shishido had seen her fair share of such characters with whom she has associated, cared, befriended and loved on a daily basis. The fact she herself was a bright, cheerful spark with a ton load of passion plus a burning ambition made it all the more obvious for people even older than herself to respect her and enjoy her company as much as her students did.

She however couldn't placate the qualification of her teacher's degree to have meaning the moment she had met this enigma known as Kenneth Sakamoto.

Once again, she asked herself. What was it about the boy that seemed so mysterious behind that moody, closeted, dismissive and indifferent mask that he was putting up?

She paused her work, glancing for the second time at the class door, hoping that the student she was worried about not going off to skip the class because of his…nausea.

She _really_ hoped that he would still be around until the end of the period.

Compared to Morishige…and Yui held no accountable offense for this comparison, was fairly aware that he was still capable of fair speech and emotional exchange, though annoyance and awkwardness was often the by result.

It's like…everything was antagonizing for him.

"Sensei?"

Yui looked at the short blue haired girl raising her hand intently. The teacher felt grateful that her attention was diverted back so that she could focus on the current event right now. Finishing this English quiz before lunch break.

"Yes Shinozaki?" The girl was finished with the quiz. She did study hard for it after all, considering how determined she looked with what she must've jotting down in the paper.

"Is he coming back or not?"

"You mean Sakamoto…?" She tried to prevent a sigh escaping her lips.

Ayumi was peeved indeed. She hated the nerve of the new kid in the block, coming and going out of the classes as he chose. Yui's class was just one of it. As a class representative, it was her job to make sure things go smoothly in the class and too keep her fellow classmates in line with discipline and order. And if anyone knew Shinozaki, it was that she always brought the foot down with her duties.

It was seriously hard enough with her trying to keep the other ex-delinquent of the class on a moral leash, she glanced at the dozing beach blonde situated on the fourth row and the second desk.

The boy suddenly shot up. He felt a dark presence somewhere pissed at him for some reason.

She handled that one fine enough. But the other was pushing her buttons…a lot.

It had already been thirty minutes. The quiz was already over.

Another lesson skipped by Sakamoto, half-way. Who wasn't expecting this sort of thing to happen?

Yui, despondent she was at waiting for Ken to return, still had to wrap this lesson up before lunch break. She should've done that ten minutes ago actually…had she really been that distracted?

She sighed. She didn't feel angry at the boy, not one bit. It wasn't in her nature to even have anger at all. However she was upset, plainly upset that he had leave the class hanging like that.

"Time's up guys. Remember to write your names before passing your papers to the front. Tomorrow you'll get your results and we'll discuss the questions in the quiz before moving on with our next topic."

Could she have sounded any less half-hearted? Everyone was perfectly aware how this unspoken matter was affecting the teacher.

Ayumi wondered how long it would take before she snapped at the boy next time they met. Some of the students knew how she felt, but a lot of them shared the exact same opinion.

* * *

Yoshiki groaned deeply, as he blearily tried to compose himself when the bell rang, signalling the end of the period. He knew he shouldn't have worked that graveyard shift when this quiz was already set up for the day after. It was bad enough he hardly studied, but to sleep at this point…ugh, he hoped those ear plugs went unnoticed by the class rep.

"So you did work your butt off late night again? Honestly Yoshiki…"

Ah yes, here he was, his close friend Satoshi coming out of blue to give his sleepy brain the extra nudge.

"My boss gave me an extra wage, you'd think I refuse that?"

"Mmmhmm, I've heard that excuse before." Satoshi's teasing tone was present.

Yoshiki glared at him. "It's for real this time. I _needed_ the cash to pay my rent."

Satoshi held both his hands up in mock surrender. "Really huh? Sorry then, my bad."

"Whatever man." Yoshiki strode off into the hallway, hoping that a visit to the school's rooftop and some fresh air will do his drowsy state some good.

"Oi, wait up!" Satoshi caught up to him and started to walk next to him. Yoshiki was a little annoyed at the calm and happy expression his friend was displaying. It just showed how much naïve he was when it came to a little thing called…'a moment'.

What made him curious though was why he brought a bento with him. He faintly could smell the aroma of his mother's homemade lunch…it had dried curry and fish in it again.

"Satoshi, don't tell me you're coming all the way to eat that with me…alone?"

Satoshi raised an eyebrow, obviously not catching the hint. "Huh?"

The blonde resisted the urge to facepalm. "C'mon, you know…you and me, all alone in one spot, where it's nice and breezy and where the leaves are flying…dude are you even getting what I'm saying…"

Satoshi remained confused and blank. "No…I'm eating lunch with the rest in the courtyard. I just hoped you were coming along…you're coming along right?"

Yoshiki's eye twitched, and he sighed, partially from relief and the rest plain indifference. It was probably better if Mochida didn't really catch what he was trying to convey. Let his naivety continue to blissfully keep him in the dark.

"I'll…catch up with you and the rest later. I just need a breather."

Satoshi stared at his friend. He had that sudden dejavu feeling ringing in his head.

"Hmm, what's with the staring? Getting attracted to me at last are you?"

"What?! No no no…it's nothing. Nothing important." Satoshi was flushed. For a boy of course. Boys can be flushed…right?

Now it was Yosihiki's turn to stare at him. It usually worked, for such a stare from this, ahem, former delinquent was unnerving enough for the wrong person when those piercing grey eyes were focusing on you. In Satoshi's case, his hastily erected composure was broken quickly.

"Ugh…fine, just don't stare at me like that. You know Sakamoto?"

Yoshiki tilted his head curiously. "What about him?"

"He left before the quiz ended. He made a somewhat…similar kind of excuse to Ms. Yui before he did."

Yoshiki stopped at his tracks. "Did he?" He wasn't aware of that an hour ago. First thirty minutes he struggled to keep his eyes wide open, next thirty was a blurry mishmash of trying to not bonk his head on the desk and not slumping on the back of the chair.

The blonde queried further, "You thought he sounded…"

Satoshi's sheepish face was cringe worthy, like he was a kid afraid getting ragged for his lunch money by a thug. Yoshiki himself couldn't understand why the girls in the school found that adorable. Sometimes the mere memory of such scenarios annoyed him till he'd might be willing to wipe that face off with a threatening fist if it was for the fun of it, just to see his best friend getting scared shitless and covering his face, whimpering like a pussy and see how the girls found that 'adorable'…but luckily for anyone of course, Yoshiki always kept that obviously dark humour of his bound and locked away from public view and let his mind do the visual entertainment.

It wouldn't hurt to try though…

"Hmph." Yoshiki chose not to pursue the topic further. Unlike other students, he chose not to pay much attention to Kenneth. And it wasn't because he didn't like the guy…nor did he apparently hated his guts.

The fellow didn't seem worth his time to be spent chatting and gossiping over, especially in a negative atmosphere. Check that, it was usually in a negative atmosphere.

Man, the guy was growing a reputation far worse than his two years ago.

"You don't seem to care much do you? Shinozaki's pretty much the only one steaming about it."

Yoshiki shrugged, his body language dismissive. "Nope. If he wants to act like a badass, let him be. I mean…this is coming from me, someone who used to be one, and you've got to thank her for giving me the nudge to stick my ass around in here."

Satoshi chuckled. He couldn't deny that fact. Ayumi did gave him a total turnaround from being an outcast…whether or not Yoshiki would admit it. "Could've fooled everyone. I don't really see the picture I was hoping for." Yoshiki himself couldn't help smirking a little.

"What, you expected another Mochida to pop after some short class rep rescues you from suspension and lectures you with some insightful advice?"

Satoshi was once again confused. "Eh?"

Yoshiki shook his head, waving dismissively. "Never mind. Inside joke."

* * *

He chewed on his gum. For a non-smoker, nicotine was strangely addictive. It was latched onto your taste buds and subconscious memory always brings out the urge to have more of the fucker on your tongue once you've repeatedly taken enough into your system. This was what he felt of course.

The clouds seemed awfully contorted today…he couldn't make out shapes to pass the time. What a bummer…coming up here to see a bad view.

Still, the clear blue sky and the wind did justice. That was at least a tad bit relaxing for his mood.

"Well well well, didn't expect anyone else up here right now."

What's this? Another fellow up here in his favorite spot?

"Kishinuma…right?" The beach blonde boy was right below his vision of sight, as he was sitting on top of the radiator. Yoshik shielded his eyes from the rays of the sun and peered at him generously.

"Yup, that's me. What brings you to my favourite spot in this place?"

"Your favourite spot? You must be mistaken. I come here all the time -,"

"All the time you skip your lessons?"

Ken's eyes narrowed darkly. "Don't exaggerate. I don't do it all the time."

Yoshiki let a snicker escape him. "Sure."

Ken hardly considered Yoshiki to be relevant in the surroundings that existed around him. He paid divided attention to his academics and keeping his head on a low around here, and he'd rather keep that notion intact since he wanted to be alone.

Plus he was not in the conversational mood.

He couldn't remember the last time he ever had a proper conversation…but that's another story.

"Does it bother you that I'm here?"

Yoshiki shrugged indifferently, stretching his arms. He used to do the same thing a lot for having a non-focused mind-set in the past. Seeing someone else doing it in broad daylight just when he was trying to reform himself gave him nostalgia. He tried to remain nonchalant about it though.

"Nah, not really. Kinda surprising to see a new face in here though..."

A snicker escaped Ken, and he spat out the gum.

"Chewing gum?"

"It's nicotine." Ken tonelessly muttered.

Yoshiki was not surprised. He hardly paid attention with Ken's presence and had expected weird from him.

"How'd you manage to get that here?"

"Pft, same way most of the morons in here bring cigarettes and drugs without much prying eyes." Ken popped another square piece in his mouth. "It helps me keep my senses numb."

"You want some?" He held the packet out to the blonde.

Yoshiki started to recall the past events which had led him to quit smoking. He chewed on this to keep the psych activity of smoking present without actually having the smoke in his lungs. He remembered later getting a tirade from Ayumi that it was vaguely carcinogenic and it held no difference that being just as addictive as a normal cigarette. He eventually stopped taking the gum drops months later.

He pondered if he should advice Ken or not. Normally he was the last person around Kisaragi Academy, nor his circle of friends to ever would ever give meaningful advice. Doing it would be a comedy reel of sarcastic and witty proportions.

Perhaps not, he wouldn't be able to tell if Ken did show any recognizable expression that he did listen.

"I'm good." Ken slide the packet back into his breast pocket.

An awkward silence passed between them. What'd you really expect from a troublemaker and an ex-delinquent to just dive in into some random topic about the weather or which chick in here was imagine doing the big deed with the likes of either of them?

While Yoshiki himself had a small circle of people he was friends with, he hardly socialized much with anyone else but Ms Yui for small talks and homework. Ken himself was a shadow, being there in one spot and then off to another, never sticking around to be aware of the public and instead trying to remain as anonymous as possible.

They never exchanged a word to each other since Ken's first day. Till now.

Yoshiki wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He of all people should know that associating himself with a bad seed could elicit a ton of newfound rumors.

He smiled thinly. Yoshiki Kishinuma, a former delinquent turned delinquent-in-arms? That was really silly…

"Just so you know, Kishinuma…I didn't mean to just sneak out of the class like that."

Just like that, the silence was broken. With a statement that distracted the blonde from his thoughts.

"I wasn't aware what was going on actually." Yoshiki answered, pocketing his hands and leaning beside the doorway leading to the lower floors. "Dozed through half the period...hey why did you sneak out anyway?"

Ken stopped chewing, resting his hands on the radiator's steel plated surface, ignoring the question. "Doesn't matter, I'm just telling you that I had no intention of upsetting Yui-sensei back there. Can you just make that clear to your girlfriend before she goes wildcat on me?"

(Yoshiki's eyes become minuscule white spots and his mouth forms a perfect O for a second)

"Who…what are you talking about Sakamoto? I don't have a girlfriend." Inwardly, he was cursing the cryptic sounding bastard in his head for making him stutter.

"Hmm…isn't the class rep your girl?"

That sent a jolt of shock to his brain. How on Earth did he possibly come up with that ludicrous statement?

"Waaa…that's a load of bull. We're not a thing." Yoshiki replied crossly. "What makes you say that?"

"I just had a hunch feeling, that's all. You two would look adorable together."

The lack of emotion present in Ken's words didn't serve to make Yoshiki any less flustered. He sounded like he was reading off an encyclopedia.

All the bleach blonde wanted to do was to come up here wanting to give himself a few minutes of being alone and letting the afternoon wind dictate where his mind went. Apparently, someone had the same thought and had beaten his habitual activity to dust. And while Yoshiki tried to contemplate it, a gut instinct crept somewhere that this fellow here was going to give him a bad day and he wouldn't even knew how was that gonna happen.

"Can't you tell her that yourself?"

"I don't find her easy to talk to. Especially if she's pissed."

Yoshiki stared at the boy. That was surprisingly spot on about Ayumi...though he better not actually say that directly to her face.

Hang on, did he just…ask him to do something for him? Why did he just realize that now?

Did the talk of the school just asked a favour from someone as insignificant like him? Sure they were classmates, but Yoshiki hardly thought himself any more important than a preacher's topic. In this case, Ken was the preacher.

"You're in deep thought, something up beneath that beach blonde hair and grey eyes?"

Yoshiki struggled not to stare at him weirdly. "Yeah, just wondering whether or not I should pass on this message. I don't see what's in it for me."

That was true, he didn't really saw the point of helping this fellow out.

"Some goodwill and free kindness goes a long way." He intoned.

"..."

(Chibi Yoshiki gives a poker face at an indifferent looking Chibi Ken)

Never mind, he's weird. Not that he would say it out loud…

In fact, Yoshiki struggled to keep his impassive comments about Sakamoto hidden away. The guy would definitely sound like he always did in front of anyone who tried to talk to him, indifferent and non-committal. He just…didn't seem to care much about what anyone thought nor said about him. The culprits themselves were the witnesses to such behavior.

Whether or not this was noticed by everyone else, Yoshiki had a vague thought that the Kenneth had an aura of a stalker.

(A dark purplish aura surrounds Ken in a creepy manner and only Yoshiki can see it)

Hell, even the way he slouched obviously hid a shrewdness Yoshiki was not prepared to deal with. He didn't think anyone could.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, blondie?"

Yoshiki's brow furrowed with incredulity. Did he actually just call him that? Not even Satoshi had teased him about his hair.

"What?"

"Your presence here interrupts my peace. And you do have other matters to attend to no?"

A slow burn of realization struck the tip of his mind. His eyes narrowed at what Ken was really implying behind the obvious question.

Ken's thin lips smiled with humourless effect. "You aren't void of quick thinking."

Yoshiki hardly believed what he was hearing. First the guy told him to pass a message and then he's patronizing him just so he can fuck off and leave him alone. Basically it took him thirty seconds to treat him like damned bell boy.

He wouldn't be so angered so easily though. Keeping a cool head was a basic necessity for every student who dealt with frustrating events in school. Yoshiki's case though, he's been in more times he could count. It really paid to keep it intact.

"There's a thing call asking nicely." The beach blonde's voice took a sharp edge, wanting to make the following sentences carved on Kenneth's patronizing mood. "I wouldn't mind."

"Your point?" There he goes again, being indifferent and rude. Oddly this gave Yoshiki a well enough reminiscence of his own behaviour in his delinquent days. Not that he wanted to be reminded of it again…

He should've followed Satoshi right then and there. Would've save him the trouble of having to be three meters with this guy…that he of all people had hardly expected to come and interrupt his self-therapy sessions.

Suddenly, the urge to challenge his snarky demeanour presented itself seemed too enticing to pass up on. Deep down he, was quite inquisitive and wanted to see first-hand of what everyone in class 2-9 thought about him was true.

"I don't know why the hell I'm saying this but…sometimes it wouldn't hurt being different from this lone wolf attitude for a change. You're friends with Morishige right? The guy's a loner, but he's got a group of friends even he hangs around with on a daily basis. Compared to you here, he isn't having that borderline stay the hell away from me attitude."

Ken retorted wryly. "Sakutaro's a good acquaintance, nothing more. Though I can't understand why he chooses to hang around with a strange group of characters." He continued. "One of which is really annoying the fuck out of me, the one with the ridiculous cat smile. And the brown haired kid, Mochida was it? Ignorant fellow, the girls around the block fawn him over and he's just still being goody two shoes around the teachers and everyone in general because that's just who he is? And there's the class rep, oh she's the bell of the ball isn't she -,"

Yoshiki fists balled up. "That's my friends you're talking about."

Ken chuckled. A low deep sound that had an ignorant mirth to it. "Look, this is exactly why I find it strange. You Japs get offended so easily when someone busts a ball about the bonds you share with people you're close with. Sakutaro himself takes pride in his family name…and just to keep myself in touch with him I have got to shut up about it."

He really wanted him to leave him alone. For that, he's got to say such nasty things with a straight face. And it was pissing Yoshiki off. This was the first time they spoke more than five minutes, going from simple, then to the drain just like that. But Yoshiki had gotten the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't the only one just who felt like punching the lights out of him.

"Jackass."

The half-blood feigned a yawn. "I've been called worse."

Yoshiki scowled with disgust, opting at last to leave the snarky fellow to solitude. He learnt a lesson long ago that punching an asshole was sometimes not really worth your time.

The last thing Ken heard was echoing footsteps from the beach blonde's uwabaki slippers.

Ken shrugged. "Whatever." His gaze returned to the group of students in the courtyard, six of them specifically.

They were talking about him, he just knew it. Not a hunch this time. He just knew those six in particular.

Then another member of the circle was gonna join them. He'd give that – he glanced at his watch – five minutes from now.

He kept chewing his gum.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I do not own this Japanese horror RPG.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Vex

"I'm thinking of giving a petition to expel Sakamoto out of the school. If that doesn't work, at least I'll have a spare one to just put him in the lower classes."

A mixed reaction developed from all six of Ayumi Shinozaki's closest friends.

"All he's done is just skip several lessons." Satoshi muttered.

Ayumi stared at him. "He skips them without fail."

"Doesn't really ring to me as a hassling thing, Ayumi-chan." This was the voice of Seiko, who was somehow cheeky despite the seriousness present in her class representative. "That's practically the only school offence he ever does."

"Yeah. And has anyone else in the class ever did that _continuously_?" Ayumi didn't wanted to make her annoyance all too obvious sounding. However, everyone begged to differ after the way she started things off today when she was hanging out with her friends on lunch break, by once again being prone to speak about the various detriments that were present in the school she cared for.

What an understatement, she practically lived for this place.

Anyways, the current topic right now was badmouthing the newcomer Kenneth again, the one that nobody, okay, maybe not everyone, wanted to be interested about. It was just coming from only one person in the group. The other five were strictly out of the equation…more or less right?

"Kishinuma did." Seiko said, then a cat grin split across her face. "Once."

Ayumi was positively annoyed at the mention of the beach blonde. "And?"

"Someone made him possible to this group of misfits!" Seiko chuckled, spreading her arms gleefully to affirm her statement. Satoshi couldn't help but grin himself, being reminded of the earlier conversation he had with Yoshiki. Ayumi simply huffed in response. She didn't really do much besides keeping that punk in check…though his behavior has gotten better over time, admittedly.

A much shorter girl with a single pink hair ornament decorating her hair, who seated herself next to Morishige at the edge of the walkway, commented. "Sakamoto is a bad seed and all, I get that, but this petition thing seems kinda extreme…Ayumi-chan."

Ayumi responded bluntly. "He's a nerve wrecker for crying out loud Mayu. And I'm not the only one in the entire grade here wanting Sakamoto out."

"Yeah, but…" Mayu sounded unsure of herself. Like most of the students, she kept herself out of Sakamoto's way, opting to remain as anonymous as possible as to not incur the boy's annoyance. He was awfully annoyed of everything in particular actually, and Mayu herself was fine enough with not socializing much with the fellow. Which brought her to another point, he hardly talks to anyone unless he's asked to. That too depended on his mood for conversations, but the length of his sentences was never failingly short and curt.

As long as he gets reminded of the various events that were about to occur in the school so that he does not entirely seem ignorant of everything in particular, the acquaintanceship they shared was…well, it stayed at the passing classmate stage and it never progressed at all.

In truth, the timid girl was unnerved by the extremely closeted introvert. She wouldn't say this out loud though. Ayumi already has a plate full of complaints regarding him.

However, the undeniable fact remained that he was their classmate. Classmates weren't supposed to just try to eject one another from the class.

"Don't you any other solutions Ayumi-chan? I mean, can't you knock some sense into him like what you usually do to the 'jerks' present in our school?" Mayu asked with a hopeful tone. The stoic Morishige took a glance from sipping his drink, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow when he heard the timid girl next to him asking such a question.

Ayumi clutched her hands together on her lap, sighing. "It's not that simple. He's a darn fox, always managing to slip his way out of things."

"He managed to slip by you, our amazing class representative. Our boss of the class?!" Seiko's jaw comically dropped right in front of Ayumi's face. The bluenette then made a feeble attempt to push her friend's face off with her dainty hand.

"He doesn't slip by me, he..." Her mouth twisted to form a grimace. "He talks me down."

Seiko stopped her comical antics, her big amber eyes shining with interest. "Talks you out?"

Ayumi nodded. She didn't really wished to elaborate…for her pride has already been wounded enough.

"Sakamoto is a shrewd fellow." Morishige, who usually would leave the most uncommon remarks or comments in the group, spoke up for Ayumi. "Sharp witted and has the mouth to match. I'm willing to say he could talk down our high nosed prick of a P.E. teacher Tsubata."

Naomi, who was sitting opposite Morishige and Mayu, and somewhat at a moderate distance from Satoshi, provided a vivid reminder concerning Sakamoto. "Remember how he told off Tsubaki-senpai who caught him skipping class one day? Ogawa-sensei had to keep Tsubaki on a leash because Sakamoto took things too far with his words. Later on, things managed to cool off for everyone, but Tsubaki-senpai…he just wilted out."

"Wilted out?"

"He has been depressed since the incident." Ayumi answered Mayu in a matter-of-fact tone. Mayu's mouth formed a perfect O for a second, getting the fact through her head, before she decided dropped in the next curious query. She's been avoiding him so much, she hadn't really been aware of how many aspects had the school were affected since the day Kenneth had enrolled here.

"What happened?"

Ayumi gritted her teeth. "Sakamoto told him to keep the role as a monitor for a school corridor and shove it down in his uptight ass, and then shit out the rules on someone who actually gives a damn within their free will to abide by them or not, and in Sakamoto's case, of course not."

"Yikes…"

"That's not the worst part." The bluenette sighed. "He took it down to Tsubaki's life ambition to be a corporate leader, and his apparent fake persona he puts up in the public around him and patronized it just to get him out of his way."

Mayu chose not to ask further. It wouldn't do well anyway, Ayumi didn't know much more besides describing this small detail about what Sakamoto did to their once straight minded and dutiful hall monitor.

Tsubaki Hajime was an all rounded exemplary student, admittedly, and carried an aura of respect amongst his peers for he was a man of his job and possessed an authoritative figure that was uncommon among the student body. Many of the younger students had even aspired to become like him, and the girls adored him. Surprisingly all it took was one encounter with the newcomer of the school and the popular senior student everyone once knew was a different person in a blink of an eye. It was if the Tsubaki everyone knew disappeared off the face of the planet.

The hall monitor's position was still vacant up for two months in total. Whether it was because no one thought they could be fit to be anywhere remotely near Tsubaki's expertise of handling the job, or whether it was because the mental shock of seeing Tsubaki crying like a little kid still lingered on everyone's minds.

Ayumi knew better though. And she was still angry about why the matter had not been resolved yet.

"It's a shame Tsubaki became a hollow shell, but he was actually very insecure about himself. You put someone like that with someone like Sakamoto in a locked room with a topic to debate on as the only means to escape with your life…it's pretty obvious who's going to come out the survivor."

Morishige was the only one who made the otherwise blunt statement that no one else wanted to admit, and it was seriously not helping Ayumi's mood right now, however truthful it may sound.

"Shige…haven't you talked with Sakamoto?"

"Eh? About what?"

Ayumi crossed her arms, fixating a hard look at the bespectacled boy. "I think you know what Mayu really meant Sakutaro."

Morishige knew well enough what Mayu was really meaning behind her simple question, she…and perhaps everyone wanted to know if Morishige had ever spoken to Sakamoto regarding his attitude and whether or not Morishige had ever spoken against it, or even commented about it. Considering how nearly similar the two are, and that Sakamoto has only ever spoken to the bespectacled boy without disdain…at the moment the question seemed plausible.

He adjusted his glasses and returning an empty, lidless gaze at Ayumi. "Sakamoto is a private fellow. Too private. "

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He doesn't talk much."

The whole group just seem to give Morishige the strangest of looks.

"C'mon, isn't there anything he might've voiced his disapproval of…"

Morishige clutched his forehead, rubbing his temples. His annoyance was clear. "Look, I hate to be the spoilsport class rep, but I'm not an inquisitive type. Even if I was, Sakamoto never speaks beyond three sentences and he keeps mostly to himself." He added, "Don't bother pressing on please."

"Yeah, but -."

If it wasn't for Seiko suddenly voicing her disapproval…things might have gotten slightly out of hand here.

"Ne…Ayumi-chan, you're being so tight right now. I thought we came here to have lunch and hang out like a good ol' bunch of friends."

Everyone had their unspoken agreement. Even Ayumi herself, who shouldn't have even brought the disruptive topic up in the first place. Kenneth Sakamoto had no place among this quaint group of friends, the student body, neither in the whole school for that matter. According to how the boy carried himself publicly with an aura of disposition, by staying out of everyone's way, and going about with his own matters without a care in the world…with a catch. He maintains this connection strictly with everyone he comes across. Ayumi deduced he treated everyone else around him as if they were half existent to his train of thought. They basically meant nothing to him. And his intention was to keep it that way.

Why does he want to behave and act in such a way with everyone around him? Was a born asshole or did he have a crappy family life and was he intensifying the cloth he was cut in?

Well…how the hell is she supposed to know when the jerk does not share a normal conversation with anyone?

He sure isn't that rich, he never drives here with a fancy car or gets driven here in a fancy car, nor did he have a cockney accent that indicated he was brought up with a higher culture. Or is he a racist? No! That was stupid. Racism was not tolerated in any schools around the world.

What Ayumi didn't understand is, despite all these obvious negative qualities, he remains an acer in classes…well the classes he actually was good at anyway, and he still attends to some curricular activities, though he never actually does anything relevantly important in them.

And why on Earth is she still thinking about that guy?!

Ayumi's face contorted, angry with herself. That boy was going to get a piece of her mind one of these days and she hoped he rue the day he messed with her.

"Ayumi-chan!" Seiko's voice resounded in her eardrums.

"What?!"

"You zoned out." Seiko giggled. This wasn't a habitual thing, but Ayumi did have the slight tendency to zone out if she was in really deep thought about something important.

And how could Seiko resist asking, "You still thinking about Sakamoto?"

"Eh?!" Ayumi's shaped jaw dropped. "Don't talk nonsense! Why would I ever think about that jerk?!"

A collective loud 'MMHMM' from everyone else only served to intensify her vain denial.

Seiko shrugged, a mischievous lopsided grin decorating her cute features. "C'mon, you're not the only one in the block with the on and off day dream!"

Naomi resisted the urge to facepalm. Satoshi just sat there, blankly wondering what Seiko is talking about. Mayu giggled lightly, and Morishige remained a nonchalant rock.

"Shinohara….what are you implying?"

Seiko giggled again. "Sakamoto might be a jerk to everyone, and everyone kinda hates him for being one…but you can't deny he's a hot piece."

(Ayumi has a vivid imagery of Kenneth smirking amidst a sunny background. The smirk happened to accentuate how handsome he was.)

The rush of blood on Ayumi's cheeks was hilarious. But not as hilarious as her reaction to Seiko's not-to-innocent question. Seiko and the others laughed as Ayumi struggled to form coherent words while trying to hide her face away from prying eyes. The question as expected by Seiko, caught her friend off guard. She couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her friend about the boy that caught everyone's attention in Kisaragi Academy. No one would dare come out stating this fact bravely, but Ken was a walking girl's fantasy of a bad boy who was imperfect, rebellious, and mysterious. A loose walking description more accurately put.

She didn't have to fantasize much. All it took was discerning the gossips around the corridors and the classes to figure it out.

Yet, she herself couldn't deny he was cute. Those focused black eyes and his stout, lean frame, with medium cut hair that sometimes would act as a fringe, and the way he walked gave everyone the impression that he was a walking rogue who didn't take shit yet dealt out more than everyone can account for.

"I missed something important here didn't I?" A new voice caught everyone's attention.

"Kishinuma-kun, took you long enough to get here!" Seiko made a childish pout directed at the approaching Yoshiki. "Ayumi-chan is going bonkers already."

(While Seiko's back is turned, Ayumi's face expands greatly, turns blood red and her ears started spewing out steam like an angry kettle pot, much to the rest of the gang's bewilderments.)

Yoshiki's right eye twitched. "Uh huh…"

"What took you man?" Satoshi asked. "Break's almost over."

"Sakamoto." His curt reply was already enough to incite a further debacle about the current topic he missed.

"Is that so?" Morishige asked. "We were just here talking about him."

Yoshiki snickered, his eyes and cross expression betraying nothing but disdain for the Eurasian he had encountered moments ago. "Doesn't anyone in here have anything better to talk about than just the bastard ruining our peace?"

He was keeping his anger pent up, lest he announced the same question in louder fashion so that the other groups of students present here would…okay would was a long shot, but maybe start paying attention to something more relevant to their once daily routine _before_ Sakamoto came in screwing everyone with his presence alone.

Ayumi sighed. She knew better than to fall victim to the tantamount of gossip and turning it into a designated conversation with half assed rants with her friends. Ironically Yoshiki himself was made a target by Kenneth and judging by his not too obvious frustration…the event was recent and Yoshiki was ill prepared to handle it.

She felt like she should say some words of comfort for the gray eyed bleach blonde…but then she would be more hypocritical than she already was.

Oh no, she wasn't about to let Sakamoto get the best of her. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

"Excuse me guys." The bluenette got up and left the area before any of her friends could voice their concerns. Yoshiki especially, looked at her the longest.

* * *

Kiko Izuki was not usually someone who'd meddle in the affairs of others. He was an average twelfth grade student, trying to keep himself balance between the average categories with the rest of his friends and keeping himself respectable and nice amongst his peers, and his teachers. A straight minded, studious individual with headstrong views. A typical Japanese teen, simply put.

Today could mark a drastic change. He would never in his wildest thoughts have the balls needed to perform this task, but the temptation of sin just never seemed to fall off the minds of most people. He had spent countless hours debating whether or not this act he was about to do would have its pros and cons, and the end result weighed a lot of the cons and not a single beneficial reward.

What the others may think of his actions would have a severe impact on both him…and his friends. A negative or positive outcome wasn't certain, but the move itself was risky enough for public judgement.

That is if anyone ever found out.

He had a goal in mind today, and with two more of his other friends, who couldn't stop thinking and dwelling on the unresolved matter of Tsubaki Hajime quitting his job as hall monitor, and their respected best friend turned into a manic-depressive stranger.

Kiko's best friend, in fact.

The three of them had all agreed on a secluded area in the school, which was the unused classroom 3-7 of the third floor. Ren had kept close watch for the day and noted that, the coast was clear, and he had procured a set of keys for the classroom. Where he got the keys, even he did not reveal to Kiko.

Kiko led the way, his eyes prowled hungrily in the corridors with every step he took, while the othe two behind him like a pair of hunting dogs. The threesome hardly took notice the presence of the various younger students that offered gestures of respect, as it was somewhat customary to greet your seniors with respect. Kiko however, was all too focused, his hands were sweating and his mind was on a stress overdrive. If he did not confront and end this matter quickly, he would never forgive himself, and he knew for certain Ren and Nara here would berate him for chickening out and they could instead turn their hate riddled anger at him for not standing up for Tsubaki's sake.

Kiko had to be the one to do it after all. It's what a true friend would do anyway.

"You sure he was prowling around the rooftop?"

"That's what the janitor said man. Cockily resting if I might add." The flame haired youth Ren answered Kiko who stopped before the stairway leading to the rooftop.

"Alright, I'm trusting you two to keep the coast clear. Like we planned, no prying eyes and all in here."

The spiky haired Nara grunted fiercely. "Let's get it over with already huh? I didn't get these rings from the department store for a cheap jewelry collection."

"Just stay put here, I'll get him." Kiko was positive he could be shitting bricks right now, but they'd come too far already. His nervousness was being masked with hastily erected gray confidence that seemed to overtake the sensible part of him.

He looked back at the steps, swallowed a gulp, and started the first ascent.

* * *

The class representative had no real idea where she was going really. Her sudden instinct went as far to just walk away, recollect her thoughts after ranting out her stress induced mind in front of her friends. Then, blank, blank and blank.

A good walk might've been able to calm her thoughts. Being aimless about it though was actually more pointless than helpful actually. Besides, she wasn't getting any calmer anyway. New anger riddled thoughts crossed her head about how she was going to manhandle (womanhandle?) Kenneth and strap an electric collar on his neck so that he would never dare asshole his way in this school of hers.

The very idea was enticing actually. Though getting an electric collar is expensive…and probably illegal. Her elder sister would disapprove as well…

 _Man, Seiko was right. I need to cool off. Pocket…phew, nee-san, thanks for the extra change._

The vending machine was just a few more meters away. Regular ice lemon tea should do the trick, hopefully -.

What she saw next nearly made her heart stop.

Three twelfth grade seniors, cheery looking individuals, casually chatting while walking out of a corridor and into the courtyard. Twelve o'clock from her direction.

 _Ah, crap. Crap crap crap crap, don't panic Ayumi. Keep a straight face and they'll probably just ignore you…_

She dared not take the risk of walking past them. Most seniors are pretty likely to shout at their juniors to veer off their way, and they are subjected to provide on and off teasing, mostly to belittle the younger ones for no apparent reason other that guilty fun.

Her eyes fell upon the boy at the middle. He seemed to stand out more than the other two present in her sight...so that meant he was the de facto leader of sorts. And it was pretty obvious what Ayumi tried to do. She stayed where she was, kept her head low, so that not one of them, him specifically, would notice her walking by their way -.

"Hey, aren't you a student from the lower grade?"

Damn.

Ayumi immediately stop trying to blend in the environment. She looked up at the much taller threesome, and trembled a little. They all looked rather intimidating, added with the fact he had rarely ever seen such a strange bunch huddled up together in one spot.

The redhead on the left chuckled. "Aw, she's scared." The spiky haired fellow just glowered at Ayumi, like she was fresh meat.

Then the one in the middle spoke up calmly. His voice was low and commanding. "Hey, give her a break. Both of you."

The redhead kept his cocky smirk directed at her, but the spiky haired fellow just snorted with derision.

The one in the middle, dirty blonde haired, though still displeased with how his friends were behaving, returned his attention on Ayumi, who started to fumble before he could speak first.

"Se-senpai, I should be going actually…sorry for being a bother."

Kiko half smiled, shaking his head at how uncomfortable the bluenette was in front of a bunch of fellows who were all just a grade above hers. He didn't really understand this whole rule that was made up about respecting and fearing your seniors in every Japanese school in the country. It was a bother actually in a societal communication aspect. He found the idea of being friendly with a younger student amusing...just that no one here made it easy for him.

Not everyone in a school can have similar ideals. A pity really.

"Oh no, you're not being a bother…Shinozaki." Ayumi stiffened when Kiko peered at her nametag. "Where are you off to?"

Ayumi answered almost immediately. "Just…wanted to get a drink." She gestured at the vending machine behind them.

"Thirsty?" She nodded meekly.

The blonde peered closer towards Ayumi. So close, Ayumi's face could feel traces of air escaping his nostrils, and she could smell the cologne of the guy. Oo-kay, this was seriously getting uncomfortable.

"You look familiar, have I seen you before?" The redhead inquired. When the blonde shot him a dirty look, the redhead laughed heartily.

And it took the fellow seven seconds to finally clutch his stomach and look at the confused Ayumi bemusedly. "A friend in need I am. So I just asked the question in his head." He gestured with a thumb at the blonde fellow. The menacing looking third character shook his head, as if wondering why he was present with an idiot like the redhead here.

The blonde pursed his lips. Ayumi caught that as a subtle sign of confirmation.

 _Oh no…don't tell me he's gonna flirt with me?!_

"Ren here can be a hell of a loudmouth, please excuse him." The blonde's composure was intact and controlled, impressively. "Though…he did kinda asked the right question." He gave a hint of a smile at the short bluenette.

"Bingo!" Ren gave a finger gun gesture, and winked.

Ayumi blinked. Okay, a good looking, gentlemanly senior was in front of her and he's subtly asking for her credentials.

This would be a good time not to faint.

 _Don't faint! Just…just ahahahaha, just answer the tall handsome senior in front of you!_ Her mind was in a whirlwind of complexity, rushing into her brain like a flood. Her brain was the leaking dam, threatening to burst unless she found a suitable way to close the leak off.

"I-I-I-I'm ah…I'm…a member of the Student Council."

 _Seriously, Ayumi?! That's the best answer you could give?!_

"Student Council? You?" Kiko asked simply.

Thankfully, her panicked mind did not prevent her ears from remaining audible. She managed a small nod.

"I'm sure you know Tsubaki Hajime right?" He asked kindly.

Her ears perked up, and she fully looked at him. _No way._

The redhead laughed. "She's a close knit with our man!" Even Kiko seemed pleased to have met a member of the Student Council. He ran some uncommon errands for the group whenever Tsubaki asked him to, usually whenever his time was convenient.

Ayumi shuffled her feet with embarrassment. "Ah, I'm not that close with Tsubaki-senpai actually. We're just a…a pair of team players with the rest of the members."

Kiko lightly poked her forehead, much to her bafflement. "Well, any friend of Tsubaki is a friend of mine." He added, "He does infrequently mention a bluenette who's really committed and responsible with her duties, not just with the Student Council, but with her class…and that bluenette just happens to be you right?"

Ayumi had to restrain herself from letting her jaw drop. Tsubaki mentioned someone as insignificant as her to his cliques. That's…a pretty big accomplishment there. Who knew?

Kiko let a short laugh escape him. "We don't get a lot people like you a lot here. Most of the individuals we see are just arrogant, self-absorbed lazy pricks. But…I have to admit, meeting you in person lessens my doubts, Shinozaki."

Ayumi could only smile in response. She could relate in kind.

"Well, you should go get your drink and get back to your friends, we three here got some errands to run anyway." The other two fellows gave silent gestures of agreement.

He patted her head, giving yet another dazzling smile, "See you around, stay cool and stuff like that."

And she was just left staring at the direction where Kiko and his friends walked off into the empty corridor, absently wondering if she could remember what her name was and how badly she realized about needing another pat on the head from her senior.

A trill of laughter escaped her lips. Her once stressed mood as gone in the blink of an eye and was replaced with an unexpected, yet pleasing efect. Seiko might've been right about her being such a tight ass earlier, but heck, she can be a bundle of fun given the right time. This just happens to be one of those many moments.

And hell was she going to waste this good feeling right now.

The first few footsteps jarred her memory back. Ah yes, she wanted to get that drink of hers.

Now she couldn't wait to turn everyone's frowns upside down, and probably make Seiko incite a new gossip wave in this school, with that recent encounter she had with a senior student.

 _Heh, what a turn around huh Ayumi?_ She giggled to herself.

A turn around indeed.

No longer after procuring her canned drink, an ear shattering scream split the air across Kisaragi Academy, sending a shell shock effect that effectively silenced the random activities of the students present in the courtyard, and then inciting the immediacy of panicked questioning and fear among members of the crowd, while the birds perched in the tress flew wildly into the air, their hardwired genetic instinct screaming to flee at the sound of danger.

Ayumi stood stone cold where she was, her drink forgotten. The scream came from the third floor of the school building.

* * *

 **On a short note, I'm surprised you guys have been paying a lot of attention to this fic, while waiting for chapter 4 to pop up. 400+ views... (pupils dilate)**

 **I apologize for uploading this after a month...but I'm not an all rounded free timer. I got college and life to deal with, thus updates may vary between slow to...very slow, but thank you all for showing your support so far. It really means a lot to an anonymous writer like myself. :)**

 **If you have any questions regarding this fic BTW, do PM me and I'll answer them where I can. See you later!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I have no legal rights over Corpse Party.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Do I Care?

The melodic interchange and the audible down-tuned chug sound of the bass and the treble notes of the lead guitar's power chords, did little to calm Ken down. Despite the obvious fact he was lying down on the bed, eyes closed and pillow stuffed nicely, with the support of his arm resting on the back of it, he was far from relaxed.

A complex swirl of emotions stirred within his mind, each prominently rearing itself like a snake about to attack its victim and retreating back, at a certain passage of the song before another emotion assumed control temporarily, launching a similar effect but with a different perspective.

And then comes the portion where they all blend together and elicit a sense of divine completion within his ears. That was his favorite part about listening to music. They just…do the talking for your head. Give you the chance for you to speak out your mind, as loudly as possible, without any moral or spiritual constraints from the outside environment clogging your judgement.

The depressing part is not using one's mouth instead, in his case anyway. Not that he needed a mouth right now, or if he could still use it properly by next week.

He glanced at his phone, lying on his chest, absently, blaring out the nihilistic and emotionally vexed tracks from the Lamb Of God album, Ashes Of The Wake. Being bedridden half the time for a whole day can be frustrating, especially if this same thing happened for five days in a row. Frustrating enough for him to start listening to a whole album from these hard hitting sons of bitches from America. He was more into 'cleaner' sounding metal bands honestly.

However, the vocalist had a way with his words. Screaming, growling, and shrieking…it all at the same time at an inhuman level. That was therapy enough.

Therapy was unfortunately cut off when an unseen force yanked his right earphone off.

Annoyance came flooding in at the sight of Misa, one hand clutching her hip and glaring at him.

He glanced at his room's open door, and raised a queried eyebrow. "Do you knock?"

"You owe me five hundred yen." She flung the plastic bag, containing a single bottle she was holding directly at his face. He didn't bother to dodge it.

She pattered away without another word. Ken sighed with annoyance, placing the plastic bag aside carefully and got out of his bed.

"Uaargh…"

He hissed, realizing he moved too quickly, and winced when his breathing temporarily ceased. The air inside got stuck between his abdomen and trachea. He kept a firm grip on the headboard, lowered his head until it was level with the headboard and slowly breathed out, deflating the lungs. He groaned, keeping his current position in place, and slowly, he breathed in, and out, in and out…in and…

He suddenly gasped with pain when his efforts struck a nerve of pain somewhere along his chest.

His breathing had returned, albeit shallow and short, and it still caused minor lapses of pain in his chest. But he was breathing…and that's all that mattered

He slouched slightly as he advanced towards the door. He had to rely on his mouth for his daily air intake apparently, since his nose could not function properly, the septum fractured. And a bruised pair of ribs constantly giving him a hard time to let his lungs work properly.

The good news is, the doctor said it would take him a week at most before he could return back to school, that too with his upper body still bandaged since it would still take time for his ribs to recover, and he should take it easy. Fingers crossed he hardly expected a more honest explanation from the moronic old fart.

Plus, why would ever return to that place anyway? He hated where he was now, but at least it provided him a shredded decency of peace and quiet.

He just wanted peace and quiet…why was that so hard to understand?

He closed the door, resting his forehead on the wooden frame with a sullen look.

* * *

The Shinohara household can be summarized into two words. Erratic and loud…respectively.

Mainly because most of the time there was a five and seven year old running around the place, up to some form of shenanigans with a nine year struggling to keep things in order, although he eventually get embroiled with whatever the hell was going on at first while the sixteen year old just goes along with the present situation with a cheerful smile on her face, since she was the oldest sibling of the house and it was her job to look out and be responsible for her rambunctious and hyperactive siblings.

It was a bright Saturday afternoon, and Seiko decided it was a good time for her to put her culinary skills to good use for an after-school day, much to the delight of her siblings. In fact, they got so delighted it caused Aya and Kei, the youngest ones too start aimlessly running around in the living room gleefully shouting, "Nee-chan's cooking lunch!"

That's what kids do no? Express their enjoyment with nonsensical mannerisms?

Hilariously, Yuu, the second oldest was off put by how loud they were being. Seiko giggled at the sight from the kitchen counter, where her younger brother was trying his best to talk his much younger siblings out of causing a racket. It was too adorable to see a nine year old trying to be as mature as possible in a house where maturity is just a word off their dictionary.

"Kei, Aya, listen to your big brother." She called out gently.

The two younglings stopped instantly at the sound of their motherly elder sister. Indignantly however. "But he's only nine!" Kei whined. Yuu sputtered with childish outrage.

"And who's five and seven?" Seiko half smiled. It was Kei and Aya's turn to groan. She gave a thumbs up at a very grateful Yuu.

"Numbers stink." Aya grumbled. Seiko gave a chuckle, then telling them to just watch TV while she worked on making lunch. Being a sister with a mother role can be taxing indeed, but she enjoyed it actually. She was a natural if it helps.

She wondered if Naomi would appreciate her cooking. But obviously both of them have sampled each other's cooking for as long as they could remember, puking at first, and the second time…the third and fourth onwards became slightly tolerable. It was only in their teenage years did the compliments start flooding in for each other…but that wasn't exactly was the twin-tailed haired brunette had in mind.

If her girlish fantasies had an audio player attached to it, her siblings might have found something much more interesting to watch than a ridiculously dubbed Sesame Street.

"Ish, Seiko. Calm your tits girl. Focus on lunch for the kids. Focus on them!"

And focus she did. Somewhat. She wasn't really thinking of Naomi much to begin with anyway…

…

Yuutaro Shinohara was a composed man. Very composed. And he was very busy. How he managed to keep himself sublimely well, juggling a corporate career and being a single father with four kids without catching any form of sickness for nearly ten years is an unspoken impression.

Back to the topic, today he had to hand over some reports to the company regarding a bunch clientele emissions. It took him an hour to check in and out and hand it over to his superior without as much as another word. The fellow's asked whether he would like a coffee or a bagel, since it was his 'job' to make sure his workers were always nourished and fed, and ready for work and all that stuff.

Thankfully he took some sandwiches, else this impromptu late breakfast would have dragged on with the fellow talking about his grandiose dreams and achievements, not that Yuutaro had any hard feelings whatsoever…

Then the next and last thing to do was buy groceries for the house.

He parked his car, and set out to quickly procure the needed supplies. By now Seiko would be half done with cooking her heavenly spicy teriyaki stir-up pork chop and the curry that he compared favorably to his own mother's cooking. The thought of his daughter's cooking sent his mind into overdrive mode.

 _No way am I missing my darling's fresh out of the mill cooking!_

(Yuutaro has a very vivid imagination of a smiling Seiko, in an apron, feeding him her cooking, and his head explodes into party streamers, then regrows completely a second late. He then gleefully hugs his daughter and ruffles her hair, much to Seiko's happiness.)

He paused momentarily from his car seat, making sure no one was looking at him.

"Phew." He quickly wiped off the drool blemishing his chin and went about with his current task.

…

Yuu, Kei, Aya and Seiko had barely even sat down on the dining table, where lunch was gloriously laid down like a banquet of sorts, that's what it looked like anyway to a bunch of kids, when a familiar sound blared from outside.

"Dad's back!" Kei exclaimed.

Seiko received him first, as always, followed by the three siblings plaintively attacking the six foot man by hugging him from the waist down.

Yuutaro smiled, gently hugging them all back.

"Okay, now that the man of the house is back, where's the grub?!" Yuutaro exclaimed hungrily.

Seiko laughed at her father's comical antics. He, like the kids were always so passionate about her cooking. She waved a finger, trying to maintain some order, "Ah ah ah, dad." She pointed at the car, "First things first we gotta bring the groceries in."

Yuutaro blinked, then scratched his head glancing back at the car and then at his daughter, chuckling. "Right…silly me." The siblings giggled momentarily, each rushing forth to help their father gather up the groceries from the car, leaving them in the kitchen first. Seiko and Yuutaro would arrange them later once lunch was over.

…

Heaven is real. Well…in a hyperbolic sense.

That's what everyone felt on their taste buds, and how it then slides down their gullets leaving behind just a small reminder that something so delicious was in their mouths just minutes ago.

That was the plaintive effect of Seiko's cooking. According to how the rest of her family members were grinning and smiling like a bunch of happy fools…

"Man, I wish I had a bigger stomach!" Yuu complained, his tiny hand resting on his stomach. "If I had one wish I'd wanted to come true, is that I want to eat more of Nee-chan's awesome cooking and nothing else!" Kei and Aya seemed to agree likewise, their heads bobbing as they voraciously consumed the leftovers of their meals.

Seiko can't help but blush. This was probably the thousandth time she'd heard Yuu compliment her cooking. But being the sensitive and emotional girl she is, it was only normal for her to respond in kind.

"Aw, Yuu…" She reached out hugged her little brother tightly from where he sat.

"Nee-chan?!"

"You're gonna make me cry! And I'm not even a mom yet!" Seiko exclaimed in a very dramatic manner.

"Nee-chan…can't breathe…" His sounds were muffled due to the fact his face (head?) was buried in between her chest.

Yuutaro smiled contently, where he was opposite Yuu and Seiko. The never changing thought of Seiko, his eldest daughter, being his pride and joy, passed his mind once again. Her lovely and cheerful nature made him happy. Her easy going mindset and humor riddled moments initiated by her, and her very presence around this household was enough to lift his spirits at the most stressful of situations. Her siblings treated her more than a mother than just an elder sister as well.

He had never considered that none of this would go wrong, as everything about Seiko seemed perfectly fine where it was.

He tried not to dwell on it now, not again, but his daughter's cheery smile looked…forced.

…

"Ha…that's does about it." Seiko sighed, and flopped herself onto her bed.

She was tired, her energy sapped from the grueling housework. The rest of her school homework could wait till tomorrow, Naomi would help her first thing in the morning and she could pass the rest of the day along with no worries.

Yet, she felt happy about taking up responsibility as the assigned authority figure. She hardly ever did what normal teenage girls would do in their spare time, whenever she could anyway it was only at a reserved level and when the time was convenient for her family.

Didn't stop her from making the most out of the moments however. She smiled, recalling a karaoke session with Mayu, Naomi, Ayumi, and the boys. Yoshiki apparently was the star of the night, able to belt out notes somewhat like a real singer would. Everyone else though, were plaintively average.

She chuckled, remembering Morishige's greened expression when Satoshi's tone deaf voice came along.

It was still fun though. Perhaps they could do it again…

"Seiko?" The characteristic knocks of two on her room's door stopped her brief reverie.

"Dad, I've already pickled your lemons and wiped the windows."

Yuutaro's face peeked from the slightly opened door. "Don't have to sound so whiny about it…"

Seiko's lower lip jutted out when she looked at her father. His smile was sheepish.

"Mind if I come in?"

"Mmm…"

He sat on the bed right next to his daughter's lying form.

"Tired?"

"Am I ever not tired Dad? Who else is gonna keep this place in tip top shape, and maintain order while you're away?"

Yuutaro half smiled. "Right…"

"What's up anyway? You don't usually come to my room a lot…"

Her father raised his eyebrows, "Eh? Am I not allowed into my daughter's room?"

Seiko got herself back up on the bed, legs in criss cross position. A ponderous finger pressed her temple. "Well…"

"Oh…I see." Seiko cringed immediately at Yuutaro's downcast expression. "Privacy? It's what you teenagers call it these days…"

"Dad…"

Yuutaro continued to swoon as if he was a stubborn weed helplessly blown by a gale, dramatically in front of his daughter. "I suppose I'll also have to stop being a bother to my Seiko, whom I've raised all by myself alongside three munchkins…like a responsible single father with a nine to five job can only do…"

Seiko bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "Daaaad…"

"A good father would want what's best for his daughter…so…from now on, I guess I'm dead to you…"

(Yuutaro curls into a ball onto the floor and starts swinging back and forth in front of Seiko, apparently weeping)

"If you don't cut it out, I'll make sure you stay dead, Daddy…"

(Yuutaro stops his dramatic antics to witness Seiko's glowering face, with red eyes and an evil smirk directed at him)

"Ah!"

Seiko finally exploded with laughter when her father accidentally bonked his head on the chair of her study desk. Was she really that convincing when she pretended to be evil as hell?

She got off her bed and gently helped her father up. He cheekily grinned and rubbed his sore crown.

"You okay Dad?"

"I made you laugh to ease your stress with my silly as hell antics, so…"

Seiko punched her father's arm playfully. "You good."

They shared a brief chuckle…and Yuutaro saw it again. That…brief flicker, in her face. That hesitation…

This had gone far enough. He had to confirm his doubts.

He stretched himself, flexing his joints, and fixated a gaze on his beaming daughter.

"Seiko?"

"Hmm?"

He lowered his tone when he addressed his lively and lovable pride and joy. He intended to actually…since he came here with intentions besides to cheer his daughter up, something that he hasn't normally done in a while honestly.

"I would like to talk to you about…well something that just came up to my mind recently."

"Oooh, lemme guess...you finally decided to go after Miss Nishimura, your hot as F co-worker -?"

Yuutaro immediately covered his daughter's mouth, flustered, "No…not about Nishimura. It's concerning you actually.'"

"Eh?"

Yuutaro bowed his head, taking a deep breath. "You see, I met this kid in the store earlier. A girl with a somewhat bad attitude. She was looking for some ointment, said it was for her brother."

"Uh huh…"

"I was getting you those breath mints…and she was just behind me, trying to reach out for the bottle on a high shelf. Being the nice guy I am – Seiko hid a smile – I casually took it from the shelf and handed it to her."

Yuutaro scratched his stubble. "She sounded thankful at first, I shrugged it off, and I then caught whiff of her mumbling something about how she shouldn't have to put up with this…excuse my language…crap."

"Next thing was she glared at me momentarily, probably because I asked if she was alright. Then she harrumphed, saying that her 'brother' – at this moment, Yuutaro did the air quote gesture - got himself beaten up in his school by some seniors and she had the unfortunate responsibility to procure the medicine and watch over him since he was bedridden, since their mother was busy working."

It took Seiko approximately seven seconds to register the undisclosed message behind her father's encounter.

 _No way…_

"Seiko, what was that fellow's name again? The new student who came some months back to your school? Are you um…fri-I mean acquainted with him in any way?"

Seiko's forlorn look did little to bring a measure of confidence in Yuutaro's thoughts.

"I…I am." She breathed out, her chest beating unexpectedly faster than normal. "We're…classmates."

A complete answer was for naught, due to the still indomitable fact that Kenneth repeatedly tries to avoid conversation, and contact with her. They might have each other's phone numbers, but that sure as heck didn't bring them any closer…

Seiko wasn't even sure if they were even close or not.

Most cases their relationship only went as far as Seiko actively participated in it, which involved in said cases of jumping on him from nowhere and asking him for homework notes. She didn't want to admit her doubt, but she was probably being a nuisance to Kenneth in more ways than she could count.

Not that it was entirely her fault, the guy didn't function normally like a regular teenager of any sort would. Even Yoshiki and Satoshi is prone to at least react appropriately to her presence, even talk to her on separate occasions, and they're all rounded goofballs in their own right.

Ken though, she still hasn't figured out why he was so cold and indifferent towards his surroundings. And why he kept such a disposition for nearly half a year since he arrived here.

"What happened?"

Seiko could only look back at her father, blankly.

Yuutaro immediately felt guilty. This didn't turn out as well as how he expected. What could he possibly hope to do when even his own daughter's emotions are on turmoil from a problem that stemmed out from where it does not concern his involvement?

And does his daughter really have anything much more to say at all? From the looks of it, the matter seemed serious enough that Seiko wasn't willing to discuss anything about it, hiding behind a mask of taut normalcy to simply pass it off…the mask that seemingly assimilated into her personality.

That alone worried him.

The hitch of his daughter's breath alerted him.

"I…I don't know if I wanna talk about it, Dad...it's just that, Ken, he…didn't. He…he…"

"Shhh, shh….calm down. If…if you're uncomfortable with this, then you don't have to say anything. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Seiko shook her head slowly, eyes downcast. "No…no Dad, its fine. It's not your fault. I…did I worry you all this time?"

"Well, you weren't exactly your usual self for the past week."

"You saw through me?" She grimaced.

Yuutaro gently ruffled her hair. "Sweetheart…I can tell whether the Seiko I know actually gives the proper kitty smile she's infamous for."

 _Dang it._

Seiko sighed, leaning onto her father's shoulder. Yuutaro calmly held her shoulder, pressing his chin on her head affectionately. The stayed in that position for an unspoken silence. An unspoken silence was a preferred medicine as of now, since Yuutaro wasn't sure if he could easily take in an explanation from his daughter right now, and Seiko herself _needed_ some comfort after holding up her worries for five straight days without disclosure. Heck, she hadn't even told her best friend how she felt!

"Dad, can I ask you something?" Seiko looked up at her father.

"Yeah?"

"Do you judge someone for their character, or for their actions?"

Yuutaro raised an eyebrow. That was a surprisingly thoughtful question.

"Hmm…I'm not exactly sure which aspect brings the right answer here. But in my case, I guess a bit of…both? Considering the fact I got a boss younger than me, and he is kind of what you kids these days call a 'douche'. He's always acting nice and responsible with his co-workers, but he purposely drills us with plenty of work, to give the impression he's being very productive in order for our superiors to start noticing his efforts."

Seiko bit her lip, affirmative of the response. "But…what if it's not what it seems? What if the person's faking their character and what they do?"

Yuutaro never actually thought he could be dumbstruck by his own daughter.

Seiko tilted her head, wondering why her father was not responding after a whole minute or so. "Dad, dad…dad?" She snapped her fingers thrice right in front of his face.

"Whazzama…oh, Seiko?"

"So what do you think?" She asked.

"Um…" Yuutaro struggled in his thirty nine year old mind to come up with a coherent and believable answer. However, this comeback question was laden with a setting in which any answer could be actually be passed off as the right one. He could avoid answering it altogether and come up with an excuse, but that would plant the idea of Seiko thinking he was unreliable when it came to introspective matters.

Nope, there was no getting out of this. Better give an answer. Be the honest, good father.

"I…I think…"

* * *

[Saturday, 15/6/2008. 10.30 p.m.]

CrimsonGun666: _Trust me, it's not going to be any easier._

Mo5hig: _I'm not counting on anything particular. Either way it came down on you._

CrimsonGun666: _Sounds like you don't give a flippin damn._

Mo5hig: _Don't misunderstand. Yet…I still don't get this though, why you didn't report them?_

CrimsonGun666: _They're worse than me. You'd think I'd give myself the cheap satisfaction of revenge with the luxury of them being behind bars while the crime is still hanging on their heads? They're squirming with guilt…I say let them feel it till they lose the sane part of their heads and do something stupid._

Mo5hig: _Sadist._

CrimsonGun666: _I have my perks. I like to call this violence breeding vilification._

Mo5hig: _Somehow, I don't think anyone else would understand that…they'd think you'll be scared after what happened and a few screws were knocked loose off you._

CrimsonGun666: _Touching…if I cared what they think._

Mo5hig: _Come to think about it, does this even change anything in particular?_

CrimsonGun666: _I'll still be a nonchalant fuck-all flipping jackass. Does that answer your query?_

Mo5hig: _More or less I suppose…but I there's still one thing though._

CrimsonGun666: _?_

Mo5hig: _Shinohara, she's definitely worried about you._

CrimsonGun666: _Bullshit._

Mo5hig: _Have you seen me bullshit?_

CrimsonGun666: _Uh…no…not yet at least._

Mo5hig: _Look, I'm not one to go around beating the bush and musing about our respective emotions, considering the fact we're cut from the same cloth, but has there ever been a time for you where you might have thought of going easy on her?_

CrimsonGun666: _Why're you asking this?_

Mo5hig: _Isn't it obvious? I'm among the circle of people who she considers 'friends'._

CrimsonGun666: _That's rich. You're giving a neutral reason to speak up for her._

Mo5hig: _It's not exactly…easy._

CrimsonGun666: _I can imagine._

Mo5hig: _She can be an oddball at times…but that's just her. She's not trying to annoy you out of spite._

CrimsonGun666: _I'm aware of that._

Mo5hig: _And?_

CrimsonGun666: _Look, man. I couldn't care less if she liked me, or wanted to fuck me or not…what the hell are you expecting?_

Mo5hig: _Honestly…nothing. I'm not expecting you to do anything but at least understand where the world works from here._

CrimsonGun666: _What if I don't want to?_

Mo5hig: _You make it sound difficult._

CrimsonGun666: _Hello, half Jap half Brit present in Japan?!_

Mo5hig: _Somehow I don't think your racial mix up isn't the only problem here…_

CrimsonGun666: _Don't start._

Mo5hig: _Wasn't going to…_

Mo5hig: _Are you at least going to treat her with courtesy next time you meet?_

CrimsonGun666: _I make no promises. If any better, she'd finally lay off me._

Mo5hig: _Whatever. What happens next week for you, is on you alone._

CrimsonGun666: _I won't be screaming for help._

Mo5hig: _Mmm…_

 _[Saturday, 15/6/2008, 10:48 p.m.]_

 _(Mo5hig has left the chat)_

* * *

Morishige skimmed the entire conversation which spanned for nearly an hour. This was a practical ritual between Ken and him, as to avoid attention to their not-so-friendly disposition and common-ground-based relationship with each other.

It's what they both agreed on calling it anyway.

His fingers lightly tapped on his desktop with a near rhythmic manner, his eyes flitting on the screen. He took one long look at what they shared today. Mostly it was casual nonsense and brief takes on sardonic banter exchanging for the first forty two minutes…like what they usually did whenever they jumped into their private chatroom at the wee hours before midnight.

However the last eighteen minutes strangely had a lasting impression on him. It was so unlike him to suddenly sound like he hinted at prioritizing Kenneth's well-being.

Yes, he empathized with him, but he wouldn't stoop so low. No, they both rejected pity stances. It was a moral deterrent.

Yet, what was dubbed as 'Kisaragi's Gaijin Beatdown' and his mother's 'growing cantankerous treatment' was of Ken's own folly. Perhaps it was the reaction everyone else got that was rubbing off his sensibility. That had to be the only explanation.

"Idiot."

Shaking his head with disdain, he shut down the computer and returned back to studying. This was far more important anyway.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Corpse Party is not my property.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Why Worry?

"Mifune Satsuki?"

"Present."

"Asahina Yuki?"

"Present."

"Sakutaro Morishige?"

"Present."

"Kenneth Sakamoto?" Yui's eyes descended upon the empty seat by the window that was just next to Morishige's desk.

No one but her, Seiko, Yoshiki, Satoshi, Mayu, Naomi, and Morishige looked at the desk bereft of the familiar anonymity of the halfblooded loner.

With great reluctance, she ticked off yet another box in the class's attendance list. It's been five days already since anyone had last heard of him.

"Shinozaki-san." Yui addressed the class representative, who was slightly fidgeting on her seat since she wanted the lessons to commence immediately.

"Please make sure you make a copy of the class notes and homework for today's lesson, and for the coming ones later today for Sakamoto."

"Yes Sensei." Ayumi answered with a mechanical voice, as she did on the previous two school days last week before the weekends rolled by. Being a class representative meant that you had to record whatever lessons, and notes made during the periods of lecture, for purposes such as this. Duly noted however, Kenneth's work was seriously stacking up and she had the unspoken duty to deliver it all to his house, daily until he could return back to class.

While she wasn't particularly bothered by doing the job of having an hour's worth wasted on delivering that jerk's homework on his doorstep and returning back to her house, Ayumi was actually frustrated that Kenneth would get into further trouble due to his own bullheadedness that no one in particular comprehended.

Just why would he actually _let_ himself be thrashed like that?

"Sensei, do you know when he's coming back?" Seiko suddenly asked.

All eyes descended upon the twin tailed brunette. Reactions of shock, bewilderment, anger, incredulousness, and a trace of disgust was somewhere there that she out of all people present would, or even could ask such a question.

Yui answered her after a sigh. "I, I'm not sure...our dean hasn't really given anything besides noting us of his current condition in the assembly."

Seiko shrunk back into her seat, dejected.

Yui proceeded without much further delays, finishing up with recording the attendance for today and gave a few announcements. One student mattered less than the rest, no matter his or her role. In hindsight, Kenneth's absence was actually a blessing. No one would be distracted today to insult him or even curse his presence explicitly. And none of the teachers would stoop low enough to give him prejudicial looks and treat him with an according level of respect.

And she didn't need to worry about him either.

"All right, now I'm sure you guys remembered last week's homework. Can someone be kind enough to recite The Charge Of The Light Brigade to us all before we get into deconstructing, analyzing and understanding each stanza?"

…

"Naomi…?"

"Seiko."

Seiko had her hands and face unceremoniously lying on the table, and she mewled. Yes she mewled like a very distressed cat would.

"Lend me those balloons." Seiko requested with a deadpan voice.

"Eh?!" It wasn't the request that startled Naomi, but it was the deadpan tone present in her best friend's voice. Seiko wasn't the kind who deadpans at anything. Ever.

Seiko shambled herself out of her chair, and immediately fell face first on Naomi's huge chest. That finally cleared Naomi's shock. Enough to push Seiko off abrasively until the twin tailed brunette nearly stumbled and fell on the floor, if Satoshi hadn't rushed forward to stop gravity's whim from finishing its course.

"Just as I thought..." The normally cheery brunette sighed.

For the first time ever for the past five years they've got to known each other, Naomi had to comprehend the fact that her best friend, Seiko Shinohara, was unhappy.

Why on Earth was the kitty smiling good natured pervert, her best friend, who was her best friend, unhappy?

"Um…Shinohara? Are you okay?" Satoshi said as he gently helped Seiko to her feet.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"You're not feeling under the weather?"

She shook her head.

"Did you lose your cat pajamas or something?"

"Eh? How did you know I have cat pajamas?" Seiko stared at him. Suddenly a slow, familiar perverted grin stretched across her face. "You're not spying on me every night, are you…Mochida?"

"Haaaaah?!" Satoshi exclaimed with shock. "Wh-why would I do that…?"

"Because deep down in that goodie two shoes self…you're a huge perv in disguise?" She emphatically gives a flirtatious wink at the boy.

Both Naomi and Satoshi faces were painfully red from embarrassment. Naomi was actually more embarrassed that her best friend flirted, if only a bit, with the boy she liked.

"A-actually, I had a hunch, since you're into cats and everything about them…" Satoshi trailed off, still reeling from embarrassment.

Seiko giggled again. "Aw…I was hoping to catch you red handed."

"Seiko…Mochida-kun actually means well." Naomi said. Strangely however, she didn't get a usually overly exuberant response from her best friend.

"I'm fine, really. Nothing bothering this bundle o' fun." She assured with a smile.

Somehow, Naomi wasn't really buying it. Something just felt off about how Seiko was acting these past few days.

"You know, the class suddenly feels stuffy. I'm just gonna get some air. Catch you guys later!"

Naomi and Satoshi barely had time to react when Seiko suddenly walked out of the classroom.

"Shinohara's being weirder than usual…" Satoshi mused. Naomi silently agreed.

* * *

Kedouin originally had thought he would have nothing to relevantly important today to deal with for today. Just documents to run down on and official forms that needed his signature and all. At least it was better than standing up on a creaky podium in some class to teach his students.

Mind this, he loved his students. He just didn't like having have to work these old bones around in a regular basis compared to the other teachers. He was already at his prime at this point and he needed to take better care of his body.

Besides, he's got his snacks to come along in a small fridge and a TV situated on the left to at least spend his rest of his leisure time, and probably some in between bouts of procrastination…hey even the most respected people have their lazy moments. But he's not in the mood for that, not now at least, since the work he was doing had his attention totally focused on it and nothing else.

The creaking of his door being opened hardly deterred him.

"Kedouin-sama. You have a visitor requesting to meet you."

"Does he have an official appointment?"

The secretary's face dropped with worry. "No. But he says he has requested for one four days ago."

 _Four days ago? I don't remember anyone sending any appointments. Then again, I can't remember what I even ate this morning…_

Kedouin finally looked at the secretary, who was peering at him from the half open door. "Is it important?"

"That's what he claimed." The secretary replied.

Kedouin paused for a moment. It was probably an officer from the education ministry explaining about yet another meeting with the rest of the district level school principals and deans that HE was supposed to attend for discussing about how to improve the education system and all that same old bull that was never going to be implemented. Or maybe some angry parent demanding his presence for a wanton reason regarding their child who was studying here. Whatever the matter was, he wanted to keep it short so that he could return to his work.

"Send him in."

"Sir?"

"You heard me." Kedouin sternly repeated. The timid secretary nodded silently and closed the door.

A few seconds later, a tall Caucasian skinned man, dressed in an immaculate black suit and tie, wearing a pair of tinted sunglasses entered the room. He didn't bow before the principal, neither did he extended a greeting hand. He did however stopped before the principal at a respectable distance from his desk.

"Makoto Kedouin? Dean of Kisaragi Academy?"

"Yes. I'm the man himself speaking." Kedouin wasn't expecting a British man in a suit out of all people to drop in his office. His earlier indifferent attitude towards approaching what he thought was going to be a short insignificant meeting was immediately replaced by a mix of worry and anticipation.

Not to mention his use of English was a little rusty over the years. Probably because after studying in America twenty years ago he posted himself back to Japan and stayed there since.

"Conrad Archer. I'm a custody rights officer from Britain." He pulled out his wallet, flapping it open to reveal his identity card and occupation's ID card.

Kedouin raised a beleaguered eyebrow. A custody rights officer? Here? Now this impromptu meeting just got strange.

"I see. But what brings a random custody rights officer here to a Japanese school?"

Conrad removed his glasses, folding them and hung it on his collar. His stormy gray eyes really accentuated the serious baritone that seemed to echo in Kedouin's ears.

"There is no issue overtly huge or anything. I'm just here because I would like to discuss with you a certain matter regarding a student who is studying here."

 _Eh? That seems plausible…_

"I see. But if that's the case, was it really important enough for you to come here without an official appointment?"

Conrad looked at the Japanese principal square in the eyes. He meant business. Kedouin himself seem to understand this mere, unspoken factor judging on how the man was establishing his self-impression onto him. Being here with a suit, and a commandeering voice that tinged the familiarity of certain important figures that Kedouin had ever associated in his life. The kind of figures that were on a whole different level of societal standards and were recognized for their contributions to making the society they were responsible for to be become better in a certain aspect. And the recognition they got was the true luxury of their efforts. Regardless of who they were, where they came from, or what they did…they earned it.

Kedouin felt as though he was supposed to bow to the man for some reason the moment he entered in here. He just couldn't fathom why he felt like doing it, and instead the logical part in his head immediately took over to start being guarded against the likelihood of an intruder on the school grounds.

"Yes…that should've been established long before I arrived." Conrad pressed the bridge of his nose. "However, I can assure you that this matter is important enough for your attention that I cannot let time be tarried for it."

"I will listen to what to have to say, but this still doesn't excuse you from treading foot onto school grounds." Kedouin sternly said. "As far as I'm concerned now, you're intruding on governmental property."

Conrad's face darkened. "The government has given officers like me the authority to step on wherever grounds as we please, as it is a necessity for my job's functionality to be maximized with full effect."

"Do you have concrete proof that the jurisdiction of your line of work lies beyond your country's borders? You do know that you're not in Britain anymore right?" Kedouin asked in a matter of fact tone.

Conrad eyed Kedouin much longer than he intended, before taking out a wax paper envelope containing a single document from the folds of his suit and handing it to the dean. Kedouin took out the document and started reading it. It was actually a notice regarding that the owner of the document had 'full unrestrained access to any public, private and governmental facilities for the duration of his stay, or until the requirements of the task assigned has been fulfilled', with a seal of approval from the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese government's human right's department, as well as the necessary credentials from the British government itself. Conrad held back a smirk, knowing by Kedouin's disgruntled features that the British officer in front of him spoke the truth.

"Mr. Archer, you may have a document that speaks out in favor of your presence here. But please, do refrain from this unprofessional approach whenever you're around such settings like this. It's unsightly and frankly, disruptive for the conducive environment that exists here."

Conrad's brow furrowed with annoyance at the honest reprimand given to him. He was very well aware of his actions, and he silently cursed for not planning his course of action properly in an entirely non-Western environment. However he was impressed with the fact that the old dean was still able to be assertive of his role in the present event over the person with a much more prominent presence than him in the room.

"I believe you have a transfer student enrolled here recently." His tone returned to a measureable amount of aloofness.

Though slightly off-put by his bluntness, Kedouin answered. "Well, this school does receive a few of these lots once in a while. Sometimes we get French and American kids who stay around until they've completed senior years or so -."

The officer interjected mildly. "That is none of my concern. The one I'm talking about is from Portsmouth, England, and his transfer happens to be a permanent enrolment until he fully graduates from this establishment."

Kedouin was dumbfounded. Here was a random fellow in a suit and tie, looking like he's probably a spy or a hired killer from a first glance perspective than a custody rights officer, asking about…?

"Mr. Archer?"

"Haven't you read the details of the file that came along with this _particular_ student, Mr. Kedouin?" Conrad was reasonably annoyed at the dean's lack of reaction to the matter he was addressing. He didn't sit on a blasted plane for sixteen hours to get a blank answer for one of the many questions that he prepared for this meeting.

Kedouin did a double take, realizing that he must have missed something important out, or two, when he read Kenneth's unremarkably unique credentials that one day after an appointment with the district's academic officer. It was clearly obvious from the man's very presence here, he was associated with the relevant importance of those files.

"Well?"

The principal asked. "What has this student got to do with you?"

Conrad gave an all knowing cynical smile, which finally achieved the desired effect of unnerving the once composed dean. "He's an old client of mine."

* * *

Alone on the rooftop, Seiko was silently berating herself.

Why was she doing that? She herself couldn't figure out why. But it sure as hell didn't allow one painful memory from slipping out of her mind.

The image of Kenneth being stretchered off into an ambulance was probably one of the most disturbing things she'd seen in her life. That was saying a lot if one paid close attention to how someone that didn't seem to follow the way of the world around him with a lackadaisical and carefree disposition turned into a pathetic form of his once proud self.

Especially seeing his face containing so much anger and pain, when he glanced back at the school from where the paramedics were helping his broken self to the stretcher.

It was haunting her, seeing someone in so much pain and no one was actually doing something about it. The doctors without doubt would perform their jobs, but that was not the help she was referring to.

Was there no one around here that even wanted to care for his wellbeing? Most of the school's community were actually glorifying whoever who committed the atrocious act in the first place, and that alone was enough to rivet her once cheerful and easy going behavior down to the ground. How can they think so despicably of one person just because he was different from the rest of the crowd he was subjected to?

Hate itself is a cruel poison that stems itself into the minds of humans, especially when it's caused by a blinded or one-sided sense of perception, and then it spreads and sticks with the ones that are so easily influenced by its whims. She couldn't go against every single person who had such blind hatred against Kenneth, because one, she had no idea how to counteract their beliefs with good reasonability and two, doing so would give them the wrong impression, no wait…that wasn't it, they'd probably start directing the same amount of hate towards her, slowly, but steadily before it eventually becomes a fine line for her to be the next victim in line.

Call this a school body's twisted sense of pack mentality.

She held both sides of her head, agonizing the prospect of her friends hating her. Naomi hating her.

"Why does it have to be like this?" A sigh escaped her lips.

"Seiko?!"

She swiveled her head in response to the voice of Naomi, who was earlier dumbstruck by her best friend's actions, but she had recomposed herself and was trying to track her down.

"Seiko?!"

Seiko wanted to answer her best friend, who was at the bottom of the stairs that led to the rooftop.

 _Would she still like me…?_

"Seiko!"

Hurried footsteps up followed suit, sending the still hesitating Seiko into a sudden panic.

 _Ah snap, there's hardly nowhere to hide!_

She quickly scurried to the back of the rooftop's entrance.

"Seiko…?" Naomi knew something was wrong concerning her best friend, but this unexpected turn of events proved well enough for her doubts. If any better, she hoped Seiko would at least hear what she has to say about Kenneth as well.

A shuffling sound behind the entrance caught Naomi's attention. "Seiko, c'mon…you're behind there aren't you?"

"Nope! This Seiko you speak of is not present in this area!" Seiko answered back with the most un-Seiko-like voice she could muster.

Naomi shook her head, amused. "Can we talk, please?"

"Aren't we doing that now?"

"Come out of there, girl." Naomi said. Then with an afterthought, albeit ludicrous by any standards, and more regrettable on her account. "I'll let you grope me all day if you do…"

No answer.

"Two days?"

"No complaining!"

Naomi bit her lip, knowing that despite the ridiculousness of Seiko's reply, she muttered assent. "Done."

However she didn't expect Seiko to come flying out the sky and down towards her. The result was Seiko happily burying herself in between Naomi's breasts while her best friend laid back first on the ground, dazed after she crashed into her.

"Seiko…"

"MMMM?"

"Can we talk first before you um…?" She trailed off, blushing effervescently.

Seiko giggled, getting off Naomi and helping her up. Naomi calmly dusted some dirt of her skirt and turned her attention back to her friend.

"You're worried about Sakamoto-san, aren't you?"

It struck Seiko right then and there. She wasn't expecting that to come out of Naomi's mouth.

"Wh-what?"

"I asked Yui-sensei to give you a heads up once she gets news from the dean. But here's what I got now. He's home, resting. He was discharged just three days after…that day."

Seiko started fumbling nervously. "N-no…why…why would I be worried about him?"

"Because you always are the only person who actively tries to communicate with a loner like him? Oh yeah, you were the only one who asked about him today."

Seiko had no words to counter that. It just spoke the truth then and there and denying it would do her no good.

"Hey, don't beat yourself over it." Naomi tried to comfort her.

"You're not…angry, or upset, at me or anything?"

Naomi was nonplussed. "Why would I be angry at you?"

"Well…" She trailed off, unable to directly answer her best friend.

"Seiko?" Naomi sternly asked.

"Wouldn't you be upset if I looked out for Sakamoto-san's wellbeing? You and the rest aren't too fond of him right…?"

Naomi slowly comprehended what Seiko was implying. It was an innocent, but misplaced question. After all she was among the few members of the group who seemed to dislike him. However the reality was that she and the rest didn't know what to feel about Ken at all.

But for Seiko to actually consider that her best friend would turn on her for a reason like this?

Naomi sighed, and then bonked Seiko's head.

"Ow…what was that for?"

Naomi's face was the picture of utmost seriousness. "You're being silly…the only thing I ever get peeved at is you trying to grope me all the time."

Seiko, with a mischievous grin, asked. "But you like it when you get those balloons squeezed don't ya'?"

"It's not like that!" Naomi defiantly shouted, her face blushing heavily. She then clutched her forehead, sighing again. "Seiko, what kind of friend would I be if I turned my back on you because of a disagreement we had over a matter like this?"

Seiko faced the ground, unable to answer her. She had a point.

Naomi continued. "And for the record, I don't…it's not that I don't like Sakamoto. I just don't know what to think or feel about him. And I don't see the point of hating someone I don't even know…"

"But everyone else doesn't like Sakamoto!" Seiko weakly sighed.

"I'm not like everyone else!" Naomi protested. "If I was anything like them, I'd feel sorry for myself because I'm giving someone a poor judgment of character after just one look at him."

"Yeah…but -."

"By right, they should at least have some courtesy to treat him like he's still a person!"

Seiko was stunned at Naomi's statement. She did not expect her to be this honest…about her opinion for Kenneth.

On Naomi's account, she might have hardly associated herself with Kenneth, but she did not look down nor ever spoke ill of him because she believed that Kenneth, like every other human being, was still deserving of courtesy and respect, even if he was giving off the impression that he didn't care for how people treated him.

Plus, it was obvious that she was looking out for her best friend's interests, and that was a grateful confirmation of doubt that Seiko appreciated silently. She also should've never doubted that Naomi out of all people would blindly hate her because she was trying to be on good terms with an outcast. An outcast who was only an outcast because he was giving off that impression of being one and everyone else had bought into it.

"I…I see." Seiko took a deep breath, steadying herself on the railing. "Naomi? You really…you really mean it?

"Yeah. I do."

"You're not just saying it to make feel better right?" Seiko pouted.

Naomi firmly shook her head. "Cross my heart." She smiled. "This is an honest opinion from me to you about Sakamoto."

It was all Seiko needed. Plain and simple as that. She didn't want pity or advice. What she needed was someone who could understand what she felt right now.

Naomi was taken aback when Seiko suddenly hugged her tightly, bawling out rapid streams of, "Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!"

The short haired brunette gently patted her best friend's head.

"Thanks for understanding." Seiko released her hold on Naomi, and smiled brightly. There it was, that familiar smile of hers.

She chuckled. "Promise that you won't ever doubt me again."

"Promise!" Seiko smiled assuredly.

Naomi hoped Seiko was at least for now, back to her normal self. Sometimes this girl could be a handful to worry…but that's what friends do. They were supposed to worry for the other at times of trouble, no matter what.

She started to pinch Seiko's cheeks teasingly. "Nah, this isn't enough. You gotta smile bigger!"

Seiko bubbled with mirth, trying to fend off Naomi's fingers.

Unbeknownst to Naomi however, Seiko's joy right now was not entirely of her doing.

 _I knew I could count on you Dad!_

* * *

"Hmm...?"

 ** _You have 5 missed calls. 2 unopened voicemails._**

Kenneth wasn't an avid phone user unlike most people that he knew. Calling and texting was somewhat out of his league, even if his phone was significantly expensive and had more features compared to the flip phones that the students in his school, even his family members in this house were using.

 _I wonder who could it…oh, of course, who else?_

Whilst he had nothing better to do for the rest of the day, he had been ignoring the fact that Seiko had taken the liberty to call him, repeatedly, since he was discharged from the hospital.

This was probably the seventy sixth time in a whole week. Why the heck was she wasting her phone credit just to ask, "Hey, is everything okay?" or leave a "Get well soon!" or some other half-hearted clichéd and empty wishes of wellbeing that are just as worth as the amount of words in the sentence.

How much are her monthly phone bills anyway? Her parents would definitely be furious at this months' worth, regardless the amount and maybe then she'll stop calling him altogether. Yes, that seems satisfying enough to let her have a lecture from them about communicating with boys, gaijin boys in particular, and then they would ground her for a year until she was allowed to use a phone again -,

 _Yeesh, I'm thinking too much. Just ignore her, Kenny, just ignore her and she'll forget about you like everyone else, eventually._

"Oi, jerk." Kenneth glanced at the uncharacteristically unattractive in any sensible manner bitch of a little sister. "Pass the remote."

"Why?"

"My favorite gameshow's coming up! And you're not obviously watching the TV are you."

What is it with these weird Japanese gameshows featuring…weird as fuck challenges involving mopey sound effects, and a bunch of adults just laughing their asses off and running around the place like a bunch of preschoolers swinging phallic objects and shooting paintballs at each other, and even trying to douse one another with slimy curry while the audience somewhere laughs hysterically and the host just goes along awkwardly in fashion. He expected Misa, to be more obsessed for Japanese anime instead. Wasn't that supposed to be a thing in Japan?

He wouldn't ask this out loud though. It was a foolish misconception that he out of all people should never ask.

"Knock yourself out." Kenneth flung the remote to her direction, only for Misa to stumble and fall onto the floor as she was trying to catch it mid-air.

Kenneth couldn't resist a chuckle at the stupidity of the effort.

"Meanie." Misa grumbled, rubbing her sore forehead.

"It was already flying towards your face anyway, so better safe than sorry."

The dry joke only served to piss Misa off further. "Screw you."

Kenneth only responded by raising his hands in mock innocence.

"Kenji -."

"It's Ken, woman." Kenneth snarled at Izumi, who was at the dining table across the living room that was cluttered with documents and files that she was meticulously inspecting and marking. She was still clad in her formal work attire, even though she had arrived back three hours ago and already had taken dinner.

She sighed. She wished that Ken would go easy on her sometimes, especially when she was still in the midst of working. "I got some news from the school today."

"He's in trouble isn't he?!" Misa exclaimed.

Kenneth however paid no attention to Misa, turning his head to look at his mother.

"Mr. Kedouin had a meeting with a contact of yours today."

 _Contacts? Uncle and Auntie…no wait, that's improbable. They're busy off as they are, aren't they?_

"Who is it?"

"A fellow named Conrad."

Kenneth swore his heart skipped a beat. It was as if time itself had decided to stop and slap his face.

Misa asked. "Who's Conrad?"

Kenneth stared at her contemplatively. "No one important."

"But you know him? He knows you too, doesn't he?"

Kenneth tried to focus his attention on the stupid gameshow to avoid answering. It however served to irritate him after the first few minutes of unfamiliar Japanese accents and brainless humor decided to needle his brain.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"To sleep." Kenneth muttered and trudged off back to his room, leaving a nonplussed and annoyed Misa to simply glance at her mother for answers.

She however, returned back to her work, keeping her face low to avoid Misa, and that was the end of it.

However in both Izumi and Ken's minds, this unspoken matter was actually far from over. They both knew it.

* * *

 **Just a few more chapters of plot and character building before we get to the main meat of this story. Stay tuned folks!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Corpse Party does not belong to me.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Flicker

 _It has been three days since he arrived in Kisaragi Academy as a new student for the term. Usually by now, according the scenario he envisioned anyway, a foreign student would have at least been approached by a few curious eyes, brimming with nonsensical questions that will be provided with cropped answers. A love confession perhaps from a foolish love-struck girl? Perhaps an invitation from a clique group to put him as a hunky showpiece?_

 _Nah, don't get your hopes up._

 _Surprisingly he stayed within the confines in a shell of unapproachability. No one tried to talk to him. A passing glance here and there, and a few shared amounts of quiet gossip. The teachers acknowledged his existence with the attendance sheet and nothing more._

 _He at least expected to be ragged on the first day. Maybe the second. Third time was not the charm too._

 _A good record so far, he mused, as he settled himself onto an empty seat in the Chemistry lab. He was already making progress with being the antisocial loner that no one cared about, as he had planned upon coming here._

 _However, he had been bracing himself since this morning, for – he inwardly hissed – the part of the day he had to finally associate himself with the rest of his classmates, a number of them anyway. Compared to general subjects in every school present in the world, science subjects in general required students to be in groups, most of the time._

 _And they're basically stuck with that group for the rest of the school term._

 _This was going to be his first class. So…_

 _He briefly took a glance around the lab. There at least, five, or four students in one group in a table. Perhaps he could play the part of the guy in the group who either brings the apparatus from the cabinets and just sits there and doodles with his notebook while they do something productive –_

 _"_ _Good morning!"_

 _He was stirred from his reverie, and looked at the direction of the voice. A brunette, with twin tail curls resting on her shoulders, had her hands clasped behind her back, was smiling at him._

 _He glanced at his right. No one else was there. Was she really talking to him?_

 _"_ _You're sitting on my table."_

 _Kenneth blinked, then got up and apologized. "Sorry. I'll just find somewhere else -."_

 _"_ _Hupupupup!" He stopped when girl waved a finger at him, still grinning. "I don't mind. At all."_

 _"_ _Sakamoto right? The new guy?" She asked simply._

 _"_ _Uh huh." Kenneth answered dumbly. He recognized this girl. She was the student who called dibs on him when he introduced himself as a new student in class 2-9 a few days back._

 _"_ _You're that girl."_

 _"_ _Oh?" She smiled._

 _"_ _Dibs on me chick?" He asked with a raised eyebrow._

 _She giggled. "I was hoping you remember that."_

 _What…was that supposed to mean?_

 _"_ _But it ain't dibs on me chick mister!" She playfully waved a finger at him, before extending her hand in greeting. "Seiko Shinohara. Pleasure to make your acquaintance!"_

 _He tried not to give her a once over. She seemed…chipper, if not a little cute. A little._

 _He quickly shook her hand and that was it._

 _Until the chair next to him creaked in motion. And big amber eyes met his vision once more._

 _"_ _Uh…what are you doing?"_

 _She grinned. "No one is sitting here right?"_

 _"_ _No, but…"_

 _"_ _Great!" She stretched her arms and settled herself properly next to him. Not a few five seconds of silence later, she popped another question._

 _"_ _You adjusting well in Kisaragi Academy?"_

 _"_ _I…I suppose." He kept his eyes on the table._

 _"_ _Joined any clubs? Made any friends? Delinquency? The usual hunky dory for a new guy?" She asked in rapid fire._

 _Seiko suddenly moved her face close to his, "If you need help or anything, this girl here is reporting for duty!" She gave a mock salute and grinned once more in a carefree way, not at all noticing the flustered expression adorning Kenneth that nearly dropped him from his seat._

 _They were also garnering some attention from the rest of the students…_

 _Before Kenneth could muster a response, Seiko beat him to once again, this time however calling out to someone else._

 _"_ _Naomi! Over here!"_

 _Kenneth's eyes fell upon the other brunette who had stopped by their table. Wait a minute, their table?_

 _"_ _Seiko." Naomi paused for a moment, registering the individual next to Seiko. She greeted him in kind, despite his sullen expression. "Oh…hello there."_

 _"_ _Sakamoto. Sup." Kenneth maintained a poker face. Naomi nervously smiled in return and her eyes wandered at Seiko, as if asking, 'Seiko, why are you sitting with this guy out of all people in this lab?'_

 _Seiko paid no heed, and enthusiastically gestured for Naomi to sit with them. "C'mon, girlie, class is about to start! Sakamoto won't bite…right?" She giggled at him. His right eye twitched with annoyance. Why on Earth was she acting as his mouthpiece for a whole minute?_

 _Under better judgement, she did sat with them both. Kenneth could tell she was uncomfortable a bit with the inclusion of a stranger to what seemed like a usual spot for a pair of close friends._

 _The teacher entered a few seconds later. Introductions and all aside, the apparently trigger happy fellow wanted everyone to get their hands on a fun experiment…with jellies?_

 _"_ _Sakamoto-san, the bleach?" Naomi asked when she had finished assembling the apparatus. It was just the three of them apparently, whereas there was an irregular amount that closed on five for other six tables in the lab. Twenty students in total._

 _So half of the whole class it seems…_

 _"_ _Got it." He carefully poured the bleach into the beaker, making sure there was about five hundred milliliters of it. Then he started boiling it for a while until the crystals started to precipitate. After that was the cooling process in which Seiko had already gotten a saturated volume of potassium chloride to mix along the solution._

 _"_ _Lemme do the stirring!" Seiko excitedly jumped up and down with a spoon in hand._

 _"_ _Alright. Let me pour the solution first!" Naomi smiled in response to her friend. Seiko's spoon twirled dispassionately as Naomi mixed the solutions together in a fresh empty beaker, and then she finally started…er, stirring it with the goofiest smile on her face._

 _She likes the hype of things, apparently. Kenneth mused._

 _Soon they managed to obtain a sizeable amount of potassium chlorate._

 _"_ _Awesome!" Seiko held the beaker with the crystals up like a trophy. "We got it!"_

 _Kenneth rolled his eyes. Why was she being so excited for a stupid science experiment? "Everyone else got it too."_

 _"_ _I know." She smiled at him, then she bounced off to another table while holding the beaker. "How's your side doing?" Seiko proudly showed her prize, where the blue haired class representative Ayumi admonished her to be a little careful with it, and a brown haired fellow, Satoshi, merely chuckled at her antics. She cheekily described how similar they look like salt and wondered if she could taste it, which produced laughter from that table._

 _"_ _Are you done yet?" Kenneth asked aloud. This earned a stare from the class representative that he tried his best to ignore._

 _"_ _Eh? Oh right!" Seiko's eyes widened with surprise and immediately returned back to the table. "You gotta admit, they do look like salt…"_

 _Naomi blinked. "Salt?"_

 _Kenneth ruefully commented. "Why don't you try it? You seem pretty confident about this being salt."_

 _Seiko laughed, oblivious to his tone. "No can do, Sakamoto-san. We got an experiment to finish!"_

 _"_ _If that's the case can we get back to work?"_

 _"_ _Sure thing boss!" Kenneth rolled his eyes._

 _What they had to do was, according to the teacher's instructions, put the jelly into the molten potassium chlorate with rested on the bottom of the long test tube after heating the bottom of the test tube. What happens next was…according to the teacher, a non-life threatening explosive reaction._

 _"_ _Who's first?" Seiko toyed with her jelly and gave both Naomi and Kenneth excited looks._

 _Kenneth shrugged. Naomi glanced back and forth towards the test tube and her jelly worriedly._

 _"_ _I say the new guy gets the shot!" Seiko pointed at Kenneth with authority. Kenneth made a muffled sound of surprise._

 _Naomi nodded with approval. "Give it a go, Sakamoto-san."_

 _Oh great, the two to one vote scenario. But…they wanted him to experience a gist of things that a new member of their class deserved. He had that right after all. So why not make use of it?_

 _And they seemed pretty genuine about it._

 _He shrugged. "Okay." And he unwrapped his jelly and dumped it straight into the test tube, much to Seiko and Naomi's horror._

 _Now in every school's science lab, it was a clear rule than no student should directly face the test tube while doing an experiment. A rule in which Kenneth had totally forgotten in the midst of his musings._

 _He learned his lesson immediately when an explosive amount of sweet smelling smoke was directly blasted upon his face for say…about a few seconds or so. And screams of terror followed suit._

 _"_ _Uwaaaaaahhhh! Sakamoto-san is burning!"_

 _What happened next was completely unforeseen, and yet the seemingly logical thing to do at the moment. Someone lunged and sent Kenneth crashing onto the floor, and the sound of a fire extinguisher being capped open was heard. His vision would then briefly see a massive amount of white before he was blinded a second later, and an unexpected force was felt as it spread across his upper regions in and pressed down his uniform tightly against his body, and keeping…rather pushing his head down on the floor._

 _"_ _Hold it! Hold it!" The teacher's booming voice immediately stopped the fire extinguisher._

 _Kenneth blinked when the foam stopped piling up on him. Goodness, did the person empty the entire canister on him?_

 _He slowly took off the foam covered goggles, wiped the foam off his eyes, and slowly got himself into sitting position._

 _"_ _It was just gas."_

 _Everyone around him heaved huge sighs of relief._

 _"_ _You're fine!" Seiko suddenly hugged him. "You're fine you're fine you're fine!"_

 _(Scene shows Seiko hugging a disjointed version of Kenneth and everyone else is blankly staring at them both)_

 _"_ _Aaaaah!" Kenneth's disorientation was replaced with a cry of surprise. What the heck was this crazy girl doing?!_

 _"_ _Seiko! Give him some breathing space!" Naomi called out. Seiko realized what she was doing, and cried out in surprise too._

 _She pushed him back and clutched her face with embarrassment. "S-sorry! I…I…I didn't mean to…"_

 _Was he in one of those lame school romance mangas?_

 _"_ _Sakamoto-san, are you alright?" The teacher spoke up, extending a hand out to him._

 _"_ _I wasn't burning up like a damned Christmas tree!" Kenneth replied, exasperated. He spat out foam. "I'm fine."_

 _The teacher sighed, disagreeing. "Still, you were directly exposed to the chemical reaction process. For your own safety, I think its best that you should get a checkup from the infirmary, immediately."_

 _Kenneth stared at the teacher. He was being serious._

 _"_ _Fine…sir."_

 _"_ _Do you know where the infirmary is?"_

 _"_ _Uh…no." This school had an infirmary?_

 _"_ _Shinohara-san, Nakashima-san, can you accompany and direct him there and report back to me?"_

 _Seiko guffawed. "Eh?" Naomi and Kenneth blinked as well._

 _Well…this was not what he had in plan today._

...

 _"'_ _Just so you know, Sakamoto…I was the one who pushed you down, and -." She chuckled nervously. "- nearly emptied the fire extinguisher on you."_

 _Kenneth raised his eyebrow when Seiko embarrassedly broke the silence between the three of them._

 _(Kenneth plays out the scene nonchalantly in his head in a vividly cartoonish way. Seiko pushes him down, rushes for the fire extinguisher and hoses him like no tomorrow)_

 _"_ _Okay..."_

 _"_ _I didn't mean to do it!"_

 _He got thrown off immediately when she whimpered. "The burning jelly smoke was…it was all over your face! My body just acted on its own, and it just…well, anyone else would've done it too!"_

 _She actually sounded genuinely sorry, despite the awkwardness present. Kenneth felt a slight trace of guilt for making this girl sound like a wounded puppy._

 _Just a little bit._

 _"_ _The teacher said it was a non-life threatening reaction." He nonchalantly said. "What you did back there was unnecessary."_

 _Seiko felt herself shrink with embarrassment. "I know…"_

 _"_ _But...you did save me back there."_

 _"_ _Eh?"_

 _Kenneth continued, trying to keep his composure together. "You did what was accordingly right. I mean, what if that was actually something that could've harmed me?" He trailed off. Drat, a few months of house arrest really did take a toll on him. He couldn't even look at someone straight in the eye while talking with them._

 _But this was a girl. He's never talked...with a girl._

 _He coughed. "Thanks."_

 _Seiko's expression brightened up. "Y-you mean it?"_

 _Kenneth merely shrugged, his lips upturned._

 _"_ _Phew! I thought you were gonna blow my top off!" She gave one big smile, and a clap on Kenneth's back that completely erased the impression Kenneth had on her in one go. "You're actually a pretty swell guy!"_

 _'I probably would've thrown a fit if you hugged me any longer', Kenneth thought crossly._

 _"_ _Sakamoto-san, you wouldn't happen to be slightly nauseous or dizzy?"_

 _Naomi herself was still positively worried after that horror show. Kenneth shook his head in response. "No…nothing screwing my head or body yet. I'm pretty sure I just got a whole whiff of carbon dioxide…if my nose doesn't mistake me."_

 _She pursed her lips. "Can't be too careful though…"_

 _He shrugged again, scratching his head, which unfortunately still had traces of foam left in his hair._

 _"_ _You need help with that -?"_

 _Seiko, who was tentatively reaching out for Kenneth's hair, received a cold response from him. "Don't." Immediately did she take her hand back while smiling nervously._

 _They eventually reached the infirmary with minimal talk. Kenneth made that pretty clear enough with that he was not really a talker. And with the still uncertain mood between the three of them, the silence was appreciated in kind._

 _"_ _Ah…Sa-Sakamoto-san?"_

 _"_ _Yes?"_

 _"_ _If it's alright, and if the doctor says you're all clear to go, can I…can I…um…treat you to lunch?"_

 _The actual fuck? Naomi herself seemed surprised at Seiko's sudden forwardness._

 _"_ _Excuse me?"_

 _Seiko's finger played with one of her curls nervously. She looked absolutely sheepish. The fact that Kenneth was staring at her, dumbfounded, served to make her blush further._

 _"_ _For earlier!" Seiko managed to say. "You wouldn't have had to get foamed from head to toe and get your butt dragged here if it wasn't for me!"_

 _"_ _Uh…"_

 _He could not formulate a coherent response._

 _"_ _Please say yes!" Seiko's hands rested on her knees and she bowed before him. "The takoyaki here is pretty good, and cheap!"_

 _"_ _Tako…what?" Kenneth dumbly muttered._

 _Naomi's arms were jittering from sudden embarrassment and dread at this scene. Seiko was well known in the school to not let anyone, teacher or student, in particular hold onto her for favors, and would often try to make up for her accidental mistakes that directly involved another party or individual, no matter how small it may seem. Usually she would do it, with treating lucky boys, flustered girls and sheepish teachers with some favor, or lunch...mostly lunch, as a method of recompense._

 _She didn't like leaving bad impressions on people after all._

 _A brief flashback crosses her mind. Late at night, her eyes bloodshot, Seiko bawling on the phone about spilling milk on a cute guy sometime during their middle school period._

 _She suppressed a gulp._

 _As much as it would be easier to let this slide, it just took one look at Kenneth's bewildered face to suggest that he was not comfortable with this forward attitude one bit. He was still, a new face, after all. And he still needed time to adjust properly here in this school, and towards the rest of the class._

 _Not to mention that he sure as heck didn't look like the open type…_

 _"_ _What she means is, it's only if you're perfectly fine with it!" She loudly chuckled, slapping Seiko's back with empathic effect. "Seiko! We should be going now right?"_

 _"_ _Eh? Hang on a minute! I'm not done yet!" Seiko whined._

 _"_ _Later, Sakamoto-san!"_

 _Kenneth sweatdropped when Naomi then dragged Seiko by the back of her collar and hurriedly walked off from his sight, even as Seiko vainly flailed her arms and shouted all the various things that she apparently owed him._

 _Just what exactly has he gotten himself into within a week of being in this school?_

* * *

"I make some good girls go bad~..."

While her father patiently waited outside in the car, Seiko prowled the store, eagerly seeking the prize of her search. She had already stocked up nicely on potato chips, sweet buns, drinks and various sweets for the upcoming sleepover she had planned out for Naomi and hers truly.

If one knew Seiko, she would have a specific reason to gain something apparently rather insignificant for something apparently simple as a sleepover. In her case, why else would she buy whipped cream other than to get it all over her best friend's face – ahem, as a topping for those sweet buns she bought?

Following which, once they've gorged themselves to those buns, she could lick what's left of it on her best friend's cheeks despite Naomi's bashful protests, like a hungry cat, eventually finding her way to the prize.

Where would she finally…get a taste, of those lovely, tender -

"Aaaaauuuuh!" Seiko clutched her face and felt a nosebleed coming along when she visualized that scenario. "All in good time girl." She giggled to herself, "All in good time, all in good time -."

A dull thud on her knees made her stop in her tracks. "Oh!"

"The hell?"

She had hit an open door of the coolers, and the person who was picking out a bottle to pick from the shelf groaned momentarily when the door lightly hit him, before fixating a disgruntled look at her.

"Eh, Sakamoto-san?"

She kept her voice down however, knowing that workers on the counter had seen better days in the gutter than being on a twenty four seven roll here. Also, she didn't want to over enthuse the fact it's been nearly two weeks since she saw him in person. And even talked to him in fact.

Okay that was a big lie. Inwardly she was really happy to see him, and containing it is not an easy thing for someone as bouncy as herself.

"You again?" Kenneth let a sigh escape him.

"Oi, what do you mean 'you again'?" Seiko clutched her hips and pouted. "You make it sound like I'm someone you didn't want to see…"

Kenneth snorted. "Take it any way you want." His left hand held a large bottle of Sprite and he rose to his full height. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Hmph, if you must know. I'm here to procure a very important item for a very important event!" Seiko beamed at him.

"In a convenience store?"

Seiko chuckled, then beckoned him with a mischievous look. "Wanna know what I got in plan?"

Kenneth gave a flat "No."

"It's a sleepover!"

"Fun."

"Yeah." Seiko stretched her limbs. "Where else am I supposed to get the basic items for a sleepover?"

Kenneth nodded. "Good luck with that." He began to walk off, suddenly halting when he felt a tug on shirt.

"Sakamoto-san…"

"I would appreciate it if you let go of my shirt. Now."

"Yeah, but..." Seiko's expression now was a prime picture of utter worry left unchecked. "How's…um, your, you know…?"

"In Japanese please?" Kenneth impatiently commented.

She gestured lamely at her torso.

The bridge of Kenneth's nose had a nasal strip stickered on it. Though it's been days since the incident, his lower lip still bore a reddish purple blister on the right corner. He wore a black shirt, unconsciously concealing the bandages that he dressed on this afternoon.

He initially wanted to reply in his trademark rudeness, but what drew him off guard was the shift in Seiko's personality that he had not previously seen before. She looked...worried.

Why did she looked worried?

"I'll live." He curtly replied.

"Oh…" Seiko muttered. "That's good, then." She sounded like she was the one who got her teeth kicked in.

Kenneth glanced at the door and then at her. "Before the awkwardness rolls in, I'll just - ."

"How'd you ever get here?" The question came out with spontaneous notion. Seiko had no idea why she had even decided to start being suspicious about his appearance here. Was it the extent of his injuries that worried her alone or was it the surprise of seeing her friend after quite a while between the month?

"I…walked." Kenneth hesitated. His eyes fluttered back to the door.

"You're still recovering." It was not a question.

Kenneth knew he could not dodge this one. He sagged his shoulders. "You can tell?"

Her steady gaze gave nothing away.

"And?"

"Isn't there anyone else in the house to help you out?" She hoped her concern reached out to him.

Kenneth shrugged. "I came here of my own volition. I didn't want to trouble anyone."

Seiko failed to notice that his right hand had a fading bite mark. Of course, there was not need to reveal anything about how he managed to get this from his bratty sister who couldn't take a joke about a boy she was texting in the house.

Maybe he shouldn't have pushed it with 'you're fucking your senior?' before asking her to accompany him to the convenience store?

Seiko bought it however. "I guess that's fair…" She poked him on the rib, eliciting a slight yelp from him. "But you should be careful while handling yourself. You never know if you're ribs might start acting up at the wrong moments or if you have trouble breathing at one point."

"What are you, my mother?"

"No, just someone who cares for a certain Sir Grumps-a-lot." She shrugged, still smiling.

Kenneth stared at her, unblinking. Did he…did he hear that right?

"What?"

"Hmm?"

"What did you say?"

Seiko giggled. "Sir Grumps-a-lot a little much for you? I was thinking Edge. You know cos you're all about being edgy and all, plus it's like that hunk of a wrestler -."

"No…" Kenneth hesitated. "You said that you…"

"Oh that?" Seiko merely smiled at him innocently. "Yeah, I meant it. Why?"

Kenneth stiffened.

"You...you really think I'm buying it?"

"Eh?" Seiko blinked.

"Name me ten people who even want to look at me properly before you go off with that crap. We've known each other for five months, but even you can't even get it through your ridiculous curls that I strike as someone who needs pity or well wishes from people like you?"

He said it with such venom it inwardly stung her.

"Do yourself a favor, Shinohara. Just…just leave me alone." Kenneth muttered, before briskly handing his money to the cashier and walking out of the store.

Seiko could only look at the doors dumbly, her previous intentions of procuring items for the sleepover with Naomi suddenly forgotten.

* * *

The distance between the convenience store and his house was hardly more than twenty minutes of walking.

However, it felt as though he was walking through twenty hours' worth of this.

His left arm hung the plastic bag holding the large bottle of Sprite and some other junk food inside. It wasn't particularly heavy, but walking itself feels strenuous.

 _I should've called a cab or something…man this sucks._

He slowly made a right turn on the walkway. Only seven more streets left to go.

 _"_ _You're…still recovering?"_

His ribs faintly stung when her words came back to haunt him just moments after he brushed her off. Hmph, of course he'd be still recovering…who the heck would recover from getting their asses kicked by three fit eighteen year olds?

 _"_ _Isn't there anyone else in the house to help you out?"_

Like hell. Izumi hated junk food…while Misa only helped him whenever she felt like it.

 _"_ _You should be careful while handling yourself."_

Geez…the girl sure is a pushy one isn't she? He sidestepped an uneven patch on the walkway.

"Someone who cares?"

A traffic light signaled red.

"Someone who…"

 _"_ _Weirdo. Why would anyone want to talk to you?"_

 _"It's Kenny Tripper!"_

 _"_ _Your Asian mumsie's got the chipper of your old man's load, Kenny boy. Bleach yourself once in a while, it can't hurt!"_

 _"_ _You're the problem! Is it so wrong to just act normal like everyone else?!"_

 _"_ _Why…why did she leave me with you?!"_

 _"_ _I wish you would just disappear…"_

 _"_ _As long as he takes his medications, it's guaranteed enough to keep him functioning as per normal…"_

 _"_ _He's creepy! He always keep to himself and just smiles and laughs whenever he feels like it"_

 _"_ _You don't belong here, gaijin…and we're gonna make sure you remember it."_

The traffic lights flickered. At the same time, so did the street lights around the area.

Kenneth hadn't noticed it, but once did he started walking on the zebra crossing, he saw a cat prowling the walkway opposite his direction. His eyes narrowed into slits, when it stopped at to look at him.

"What?" He dryly asked the brown furred feline.

The cat simply stared at him, unresponsive.

"Stupid cat." He muttered.

He took a step forward, deciding to ignore the present case of absurdity.

Until one of the streetlight bulbs exploded.

At the sound that disrupted the silence of the night, a jolt immediately shot up his spine, freezing him in place.

Kenneth gulped, and he slowly turned around to look at the street light with the broken bulb. It was just ten or fifteen steps away on the left from the walkway he was at earlier. He could barely see the thinly shaped construct in the dark of night, but above that, the lamppost itself seemed undamaged.

 _A power surge. Yeah, probably a power surge._

He stared at the lamppost for a few more seconds, then sighed in discontent.

Barely did he turned his eye away before the bulb of the next street light on the right, exploded into a cluster of shards that littered the pavement.

His breath finally hitched.

Five seconds later, another bulb burst into smithereens. Followed by another, and another…and another.

All the while as each bulb exploded in methodical fashion, his feet stayed rooted on the pavement, unwilling to move. His pulse quickened every time he heard a glass burst.

Now Kenneth did not mind the darkness. He wasn't the type who'd sleep with a night light and he frequently referred to it as his 'friend' to himself alone. However, at this moment, each time another lamppost went out, and the darkness of the night consumed the area where it was shining at earlier, all of his seemingly subjugated thoughts ebbed away as he realized that he was not fond of this event.

Scratch that, he was unnerved. Seriously unnerved.

Before he knew it, his fingers started trembling, threatening to drop the plastic bag.

Suddenly the bulbs stopped exploding. However it took him just half a minute to realize that, since his eyes were frantically looking at the darkened vicinity for any telltale signs of anything else that might threaten to make him piss his pants.

Apparently there was something that did.

One lamppost was still lit in front of him. The very fact that it did, both annoyed, and at the same time, made his skin crawl at what would happen if he continued to stay put right in the middle of the road.

 _Fucking hell. I'm in a horror movie aren't I?_ He thought ruefully. It did not calm his nerves down however.

Now since he had put it into thought that he knew something bad was going to happen, the obvious option here would be to turn tail and run as fast as he could back to the comfort of his house, which would be accessible if he could actually run right now.

Screaming was not an option since he was practically out of breath.

Basically he was stuck here. A plastic bottle will hardly do no good as a weapon…

The lamppost light flickered, immediately catching his attention.

"Who's there?"

Like hell he would get a response.

"If you're planning to scare me, it's not gonna work." He somehow managed to muster false bravery, while it was clear enough his voice held an unmistakable fact that it held less confidence than expected.

The light flickered once more, then twice. A brief pause followed.

He kept his eye trained upon the lamppost, straining to keep from blinking.

 _This is stupid._

As if it was trolling him, the light started flickering erratically.

 _Taking the piss on me are you?!_

Kenneth gritted his teeth and marched over to the lamppost, giving it a sharp kick. It did hurt his toe, but he swallowed the pain when he saw that the bulb finally stopped its maddening behavior.

"And fuck you too." Kenneth spat and started heading back towards his original route.

The cat meowed loudly.

"Night..." He muttered as he passed the cat by and back towards his home. Whether this was a power surge or not, he couldn't care less. He just wanted to crash and binge watch The Sopranos.

The feline intently gazed at the spot where the lamppost still shone. And it meowed, much louder than before.

The bulb died for approximately three seconds, before flickering back to life.

A figure stood below the lamppost, its head hung low. Its long, disheveled wiry hair covered most of its face, and it wore an ancient dress of faded grey, caked with blood and traces of gore.

The cat started to hiss, all hairs standing on its back.

The woman slightly tilted its head upwards, fixing an eye upon the cat.

Almost immediately, the cat hunched over on all fours and started mewling. Not just in fright of the presence before it. Its furry face scrunched up and its entire body trembled. It was unmistakable that the cat was in sheer pain, as if the woman's beady stare itself was slowly burrowing a sharp knife into its brain.

The cat half mewled and half choked, coughing up blood. Its legs gave way and it began to wobble and sway as if punch drunk. Somewhere in its primal consciousness, the feline realized that it had made a terrible mistake of looking at the woman in the ancient dress.

What's left of its instincts…that all flared, screamed, begged the cat to get away from the woman immediately…was slowly rendered to nothing but agonizing pain that overruled all traces of thought and feeling.

Still, it tried one last attempt to at least make a sprint for it.

And something held the cat in place. It held it just in line of the woman's unflinching gaze.

 _Something_ was making the cat suffer under those eyes. Those empty, dead, grey eyes.

And that fact alone made the feline cower in fear.

Before the cat could utter one last pitiful meow, it was too late. It slumped and fell on its side. Blood began to pool from its mouth and spilled all over the ground. It shuddered once, and then stopped breathing altogether.

"Stupid…cat."

* * *

 **See what I mean by uneven updates? I get five months worth of making one chapter plagued with a lack of inspiration, college work, dissatisfaction with how I initially wrote this thing...**

 **Well, I'm on break, and here's a jarring bugger to remind you what this fic is really about.**

 **Fret n** **ot readers, I'll do my best to update another chapter within next month before the brunt of college catches up with me again. Stay tuned...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Corpse Party, ah...what'll I do to own you. :P**

* * *

Chapter 8: Lunch With Your Teacher (Part 1)

"Eh? Ms Takanaka is not coming to class?"

"She's on emergency leave." Ayumi muttered. She came back from the teacher's room with a report that said Takanaka had come down with a fever and was not able to make it to school today.

Mayu pursed her lips. "That's a shame…she really wanted to finish that calculus topic with us today"

However no one else in the class seemed to share Mayu's sentiments over being worried about their least favorite subject nor their least favorite teacher. One certain beach blonde heaved a sigh of relief at the fact he did not complete the work given to him, and had more time to copy it down from an all to forgiving Satoshi, who was by far the most diligent student here next to Ayumi.

"So what do we do now, class rep?" One of the students on the second row asked, Kazuma, asked.

Ayumi mulled over for a while. At a time like this the class representative is needed to take charge of the class for the remainder of the period. That's what the rules stated anyway.

Then again, it's no secret everyone disliked calculus…

"Well…you guys can revise or do your own stuff if you want, but please keep it down." Ayumi replied calmly.

An eruption of cheers broke out, much to the bluenette's alarm.

"Guys! I said keep it down!"

"Sorry class rep!" Came a collective response from the rest of the all too happy classmates of hers. They obviously wanted to hear the second part of her sentence as a sign that they were free enough to do whatever the heck they wanted for the rest of the period and as such, reacted accordingly to it.

Mayu giggled when Ayumi frowned at the behavior of her classmates. Everyone around their social circle agreed that was more adorable than intentionally intimidating.

Suddenly the door to the classroom opened.

Everyone froze in their places. Had a teacher who was passing by the class overheard them, or was there a substitute teacher already chosen in a matter of minutes sent here to oversee the class?

A pair of messy bangs, black eyes, and a sullen expression did not reassure the class as much as they would, even though this was not their teacher.

Kenneth Sakamoto, was back.

Admittedly they had another reason to stare him this time other than tolerate his presence. The bridge of his nose had a small plaster on it, and there were little traces of the black left eye that was inflicted on him ten days ago, his movements were considerably slower as he walked to his seat. If everyone was actually paying attention to the corner of the lip that he was biting on, they would be able tell he was trying to subtle about the lingering pain that still ached his ribs.

How could he have to guts to come back? How was he still even able to walk? Especially after getting beaten to a pulp that day and still look completely as nonchalant as he was before, when he walked in the classroom.

Those were the thoughts than currently ran through the minds of class 2-9's students. Most of them anyway. Ayumi wondered if she was about to have an anemic episode.

"Morning." Morishige muttered when Kenneth gingerly sat down.

"Likewise." Kenneth replied. He relaxed his back onto the chair and momentarily looked around the class, as if it was his first day in here all over again. He sighed, and proceeded to take out a novel from his briefcase and his eyes immediately started flitting through the pages.

It was the catalyst needed for the bluenette to snap out of her surprise.

"Sakamoto!"

He didn't respond.

"Sakamoto!" Ayumi's high pitched call made some students cringe from the sound and their class rep's sudden change in mood.

His grey eyes stopped at a passage of the novel, and without putting the book down, his eye drifted over to the bluenette standing on the podium.

Ayumi asked in an obvious sounding tone. "Well?"

He stared at her. His stony gaze served to make the class rep's right eye twitch with annoyance.

"Well what?"

"You're late."

"Am I?"

Ayumi's brow creased with anger. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago before the bell rang."

"Really?" Kenneth feigned surprise and glanced at a nonexistent watch on his wrist. "My watch must've been 15 minutes late."

Ayumi's fists balled up. The sarcasm was not appreciated. She walked straight up to Kenneth's seat and snatched the book away from his hands.

He sighed through his nostrils when he felt the leather slip through his fingers. "I didn't miss an entire period now did I?"

"I'll have to record your name down."

"Knock yourself out." He reached for his book, only for Ayumi to draw her hand back.

"Can I have my book back?"

Ayumi kept mum however, keeping the novel in her grip.

"I can bet transgressive fiction isn't going to be your thing..." He commented. "What happened with the Calculus hag anyway?"

"It's Takanaka-sensei to you." Ayumi corrected him. He seriously had no respect for any of the teachers in here.

"Whatever. She not coming?"

"Sick leave."

Kenneth gave an understanding nod. "You're in charge."

Ayumi cautiously replied. "Yes…"

"Tell you what, you do your thing, I do mine. No problem right?"

"I think that's hardly the case now that you're back here." Ayumi mouthed.

"Shinozaki, you wound me." Kenneth dramatically held a hand over his chest and spoke in an equally dramatic manner. "It almost sounded like…you didn't want me back here."

That sentence alone spoke more than enough for the rest of the class.

She gritted her teeth. He had some nerve coming up here after creating a controversial episode in the school and testing waters with the likes of her, not that this would be the first time. Not to mention the ever present cheekiness to tease her. If nothing, she would not give him the benefit of the doubt to extravagate his arrogance.

"What makes you say that?" Ayumi asked, with an obvious dishonesty.

"Beats me." He shrugged. "All I've done is try to keep a low profile…but no one, even you, seems to appreciate that. You don't seem to be fond of people like that apparently…"

A low profile. Is he for real?!

"You must think you're really funny, Sakamoto."

"So how come you're not laughing?"

"Name me one moment you haven't been a talking point around here." Ayumi felt sick in her mouth for just saying that. It almost sounded like she was glorifying him...

Kenneth chuckled. "Good point. Though it's only people's fault for blowing an insignificant matter out of proportion..."

"Excuse me?"

"Think about it. I mean…I'm sure that someone as dignified and respectable as yourself knows she has better things to do that pay attention to a so-called delinquent like me..."

Even Morishige had to resist a smile at how Kenneth fluently twisted his words. Ayumi was not as amused however.

"For a guy who get his teeth kicked in ten days ago, you still have quite the mouth." She crossed her arms. Her tone vividly made it clear that she would not back down from the likes of him. If necessary, she would humiliate him if that was what it took to shut his smart ass mouth.

"I only lost a few teeth. No pressure." Kenneth fake yawned. "They'll grow back."

"So you can get them knocked out again?"

"What's your point?"

"My point Sakamoto," Ayumi asked in a stern voice, "is do you even care what you do around here?"

It was a simple honest question. One that spoke volumes for every individual who has had the unfortunate memento of encountering Kenneth and lived to tell the tale.

"Eh…no." Kenneth shrugged with a huge, carefree smile on his face.

Ayumi slammed her hands on his table, startling the rest of her classmates, save for Kenneth, who just stared at her with an expression that begged her to spit venom at his face.

"What…what is wrong with you?"

Kenneth grinned sanguinely. "Chill the fuck down, lolita. I was only messing around."

Ayumi's face scrunched up with frustration. She hated being called _that._

If she slapped him to tomorrow right now…well it would be immensely satisfying, but it would also incite tension in the classroom and she probably would lose her stature as _the_ respected class representative of class 2-9, and thus she had to play the part of _keeping_ it that way. However it was only through her willpower that she kept her self-respect, and that hand of hers intact. A semblance of dignity was at least worth saving instead of letting herself fall into one of Kenneth's quirks that never ceased to annoy, in more honest terms anger, people around him.

She kept telling herself that someone like him wasn't worth the trouble…and yet every time he continues to egg her on with that antagonistic behavior and nonchalantly cynical approach to everyone and everything in general…

"Don't call me that." Some of the students, especially her friends shifted with worry at the dangerous low of her voice. Yoshiki's chair creaked a little.

"So sensitive…" Kenneth muttered with asinine effect.

Oh he was definitely trying to push her off the edge right now…

Ayumi never felt she could actually have some form of hate for her job in the class, but at this moment, she cursed Kenneth for leaving her with a bitter taste in her mouth right when the day is still fresh.

 _We were just fine without you._

"Enjoy your novel." She handed it back to him and sauntered back to her seat, and tried to ignore the looks she got from the rest of her classmates.

* * *

"That was…interesting." Morishige commented, after Ayumi had left the class to attend to some of her duties. And also probably to escape further embarrassment and tension with the likes of a certain half-blood punk.

"How many stars outta five?"

The bespectacled boy shrugged. He was not one to usually pay attention to matters concerning the class representative, but seeing the tension brewed between Kenneth and Ayumi both intimidated, and amused him to an extent. "I've only ever heard how you two cross paths. Guess the rumors were grossly exaggerated."

Kenneth slipped a gum into his mouth. "For the record, I am the victim in every one of those incidents."

Now this wasn't really something to brag about, since most of these said incidents involved Kenneth getting either a lecture or a kick to his shin for his 'uncouth' behavior that Ayumi took prior notice off. Such examples would include playing truant and catching him on the act, and the occasional scuffle with another student, who was also at fault for instigating the conflict.

It's a miracle he managed to keep hold onto his Nicorette stash without anyone noticing.

"Sure you are." Morishige replied, then briefly glanced at the front of the class, where he caught Mayu momentarily glancing at him from her seat as she was chatting with one of her classmates. She was waiting on him.

"You know…you could join us for lunch." He obviously referred to him and Mayu. He was thankful today that they managed to have an uncommon time to themselves. They usually had lunch, or hung out with their friends at recess whenever they're at school, but Morishige personally preferred being alone with Mayu. It was much easier to share his thoughts and hold a conversation with someone he could depend on, not that he didn't find his other friends equally as dependable.

But Mayu, she was…a different case.

"Doesn't seem like a good idea." Kenneth chewed on the gum, "She's close with her isn't she?"

The bespectacled boy sighed, aware of Mayu and Ayumi's friendship and how potentially awkward the atmosphere would be between her and Kenneth. "Sorry for asking."

"Don't be." Kenneth shrugged and got off his seat. "Catch you in the next period…if I feel like it."

After Kenneth left the class, it was only then did Mayu finally approach Morishige.

"Shige…"

Morishige looked up at Mayu's worried face.

"I think…you should go with him."

The bespectacled boy, though surprised by her request, replied. "Sakamoto can take care of himself."

Mayu clenched her hands over her chest. "A-Are you sure?"

To be honest, he wasn't. Kenneth could not let off at least one week worth of trouble. His cynical disposition attracted all sorts of complications like bees to honey.

"He'll be fine." Morishige assured. If he was smart enough, he would take a rain check with that attitude.

There was a knock on the class door, and the exclamation of surprise from one of the students standing next to the entrance got the attention of the rest of the class.

Yui quickly got the class to settle down though, as she had a more pressing issue in mind. "Excuse me, Mayu, Morishige?"

"Yui-sensei?" Both of them were surprised at her appearance in the class. English period wasn't up for the next hour.

"Did Sakamoto-san come to school today? Mr. Kedouin told me that he was fit to return around this day or tomorrow...and I was wondering -."

"He came." Morishige replied.

Yui sighed with relief. "That's...that's good. I need to talk to him."

 _Good luck with that…_ Morishige thought.

"He just left earlier..." Mayu hesitated.

"Oh. Where did he go?"

Morishige wondered if Kenneth would react badly to him revealing his 'private spot' to a teacher. Ms. Yui however was a dependable enough person who looked out for her students and cared for them, and that reputation was built with hands on experience that mostly everyone in the tenth and eleventh grade would affirm without hesitation, himself included. She put a lot of effort into getting to know her students and trying to integrate herself into becoming a reliant educator, parent figure and friend, even though she was still new in her career line. If nothing, that dedication and passion deserves praise where credit is due...

Besides, Kenneth never told him to keep his spot a secret to anyone.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's heading for the rooftop."

* * *

"Hey, gaijin."

Kenneth grit his teeth,

"Hey!" The forceful shove that came seconds later still did not deter Kenneth.

"Tch." The student grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around. Kenneth did not stop him, and kept a straight face. "It's rude to ignore people who are talking to you." He was an inch shorter than him, if not thinner and had greasy hair. Kenneth crinkled his nose. This specimen apparently didn't know how to shower.

"Where are you going? Hmmm…"

Kenneth kept his mouth shut. He wanted nothing to do with this bastard who probably tortured and belittled students whose roles have far lesser importance than him.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" The bully shoved Kenneth's shoulder with disdain. "Or do I have to speak in English?"

" **Please don't**." Kenneth suddenly laughed. This threw the bully off, and the crowd that was witnessing the commotion.

"W-wh-why are you laughing?"

"Your face…" Kenneth's sardonic tone rang in the bully's ears. " **It sickens me**."

The bully needed an excuse to make Kenneth his punching bag. He didn't get the grammatical context from Kenneth's comment, but that tone of disgust triggered his short temper to act up.

"Yeah, well. We'll see who's the ugly fucker around here!" The bully lunged and took a swing at him, however Kenneth simply sidestepped and stuck out his foot, effectively tripping the fellow down his face.

This was not taken lightly in part of the bully's lackeys, who were all behind him and were expecting their leader to do the usual shakedown he'd do to most victims in his path.

"Get him!" The bully shouted.

 _Christ, can't I just get a break…_

Before any of them could advance upon Kenneth however, a loud clear voice rang out in the halls, effectively stopping them all in their tracks.

"What's going on over here?"

Kenneth half expected the voice of the school's disciplinarian to ring out in the hall. Heavily accented, smoke riddled gruffness, no holds barred barrage of angry words about to rain its ugly face on the vicinity…and instead a firm, chiding tone made him blink.

From the end of the corridor, it was Ms. Yui. She didn't looked pleased at what was transpiring. She advanced upon the four students in her line of sight and stopped just a few inches away from them.

"Well?"

No one dared to respond, keeping their heads down. Kenneth however didn't mask his look of utter contempt for the bully and his friends. He glanced at Yui once, and she took that look into heart.

"Mr. Ishihara, is it?" She kept a close memory of various characters that stood out to her around the tenth grade, and Ishihara was famous enough to be among those characters associated with most troublemakers around here.

The greasy haired Ishihara scrambled up to his feet and tried to look presentable. "Y-yes, ma'am."

"What were your friends trying to do earlier to this student?"

The delinquents started to sweat from the question.

"N-nothing…" Ishihara stuttered.

"Really? I thought for a moment they were going to rain their fists upon him…"

Ishihara and his goons paled, realizing their necks were on the line.

"If I'm not mistaken…you just came back from your suspension about a month ago right?"

"Y-yes."

Yui covered her mouth her hand, "Oh my…this certainly doesn't look good on your stained repertoire."

Whoa, when did Ms. Yui, the normally sweet and sunny teacher with a lovely voice, sounded and looked so threatening?

Ishihara started babbling. "I swear! W-we weren't gonna do nothing of that sort miss. We were just messing around with ah...Sakamoto-san -."

"Can it meathead. You knew what you were gonna do..." Kenneth snarled.

"Calm down." Yui said. She already knew what happened long before she even got here. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was the victim and instigator in a situation like this...

"I'm only going to say this once. Please refrain from troubling your fellow students. Otherwise I'll have to report this to Mr. Yatsuda…who I imagine would be less than pleased to hear of your exploits, again."

Hearing the name of the disciplinarian, Ishihara yelped and immediately bowed in repeated fashion, with his friends following suit. Kenneth struggled not to snark as the pathetic fellow and his friends apologized in various, unnecessarily creative means.

"I trust you will be on your best behavior?" Yui asked

"Yes Sensei! It won't happen again!" Both Kenneth and Yui knew better however.

"Sakamoto."

Hearing his name suddenly called out by her made his breath hitch. "Y-yes, Sensei?"

"Follow me." Yui ordered. She deftly started walking in the opposite direction.

Ignoring the curious stares directed at him, Kenneth knew he had no option but to follow. And follow he did. Inwardly he dreaded of what Ms. Yui had in mind for him. Was he in trouble too? Or was it something else entirely in store?

* * *

When they arrived at the teacher's room, Kenneth was immediately struck with mild claustrophobia. The room, firstly was rather compact, had notice boards pinned all over the walls and a large array of storage cabinets filled with documents on the far left of the room. The desks, though arranged neatly, had paperwork and documents strewn on them in their respective aisles, and the teachers present were either chatting with each other or knee deep in their own work. Yui greeted every last one of her co-workers, and they did as well before returning to their activities in respective fashion. Thankfully none of them acknowledged him as he trailed behind Yui.

She guided him to the lounge that was just to the left of the teacher's room, which was thankfully empty and less boisterous. Kenneth was able to breathe normally once he stepped in.

However he wasn't able to calm down. He kept pondering just what exactly Yui in her conscience would want with him.

"Um…Sensei? Why am I here?"

The response he got from her was far from satisfactory. In fact, it confused him further. Scratch that, he was taken aback when Yui suddenly doubled over and clutched her hands over her stomach and started heaving out loud gasps of air.

"Sensei?" Kenneth reached out to her, and Yui suddenly looked back at him, all traces of that serious and threatening aura of hers minutes ago forgone for a pitiful expression on her delicate face.

"Uh…are you alright?"

Yui's lips trembled and her eyes started to water. "I-I-I…I've never confronted a-a student before."

Kenneth couldn't believe what he was seeing. So that tough shit stunt back there really was just a farce?

"O-oh." He dumbly replied. He was aware at least that Yui was much younger than most of the old farts in this schools and was relatively fresh down her career path. A few bumps along the road should've been expected for a greenie such as herself.

"I saw what he was trying to do earlier…a-and, I had to stop him before you could get hurt." She stuttered before clutching her face in embarrassment. "Goodness…w-what was I thinking?"

 _C-cute._ His mind unintentionally blurted out when he saw his teacher getting so flustered.

"Sensei, I…I understand." Kenneth managed, rubbing the back of his neck and tried to avoid looking at her. "Please calm down."

"C-calm down?" Yui suddenly stuck her face inches away from him, effectively gaining his full attention. "Everyone just saw what I did back there!" She flailed her arms with blinded worry and rambled. "D-do you think someone recorded it and posted it online and I'm going to be a laughing stock for the entire school and then my career as a teacher is going to be over in a moment's notice and then I'll have to transfer to another place, Osaka maybe, to reestablish my job or worse…I'll have to transfer to another country with a limited market for non-American English teachers -.

"Sensei!" Kenneth half shouted. Yui stopped flailing, likely more surprised at Kenneth's firm voice. "Calm. Down."

How ironic. He wasn't even calm himself and yet his teacher is suddenly behaving erratically in a moment's notice from telling off a bunch of juveniles. Admittedly she did look very rigid when she addressed them, proving further about her complete lack of experience when it came to handling a drastic, yet important matter such as the one she unwittingly participated in earlier. He wouldn't stake a claim to know what she felt the moment she tried to establish herself in unfamiliar territory, but it was probably a mix of exhilaration and a slight rush of adrenaline that clouded her senses.

But she did managed to get the job done…though Kenneth imagined she would probably would have done it differently given the chance.

"You did what you had to do. That speaks for itself." He added. "They would've...had their way otherwise if you weren't there."

At Kenneth's reassurance, Yui finally was able to relax. "I…I did a good job?"

"Seriously though, lose that intimidating dialogue. It sounds like you copied that from Mr. Yatsuda's playbook." Kenneth commented dryly.

Yui blushed and fidgeted with her hands. "A-actually I might've taken a few words out of context…"

 _You seriously…_

"N-nevermind." He quickly reverted back to the main topic. "Again, why am I here?"

"Oh yes!" Yui suddenly remembered. "I was looking for you earlier, and Morishige told me that you were heading to the rooftop. Thank goodness I was able to catch you before you broke another rule…"

 _Morishige, you…_

Kenneth pocketed his hands, his eyes narrowing towards a 45 degree angle upon the uninteresting wall to his left. No point lying about it now. If Yui was about to reprimand and lecture him regarding one of his many episodes that disturbed the flow of the school setting, just like every other, he'll be prepared with his usual string of excuses just to get the matter over with.

"You caught me red handed. I guess you'll report me to Mr. Yatsuda?"

"I probably have to…but technically you didn't make it to the rooftop before I got you."

Did she just intentionally point out that loophole?

He looked back at her. "Does this mean…"

Yui smiled. "I'll let that off the hook, on one condition."

 _Where did this strange twist come from? Surely she's a little peeved at me for trying to break the rules, unless if she wants me to do a favor for her? Wait…yes, that's it! That's the only logical explanation! Well well well, I guess I misjudged you, Ms. Yui, for being kind to a fault…but you are awfully generous now aren't you? Bugger, let's get this one over with shall we…_

"Oooookay. Do you uh…need me to do something for you?"

She shook her head.

"Do you need me to do something for someone else?"

He was unnerved when Yui continued to just smile at him. "No."

"Then…am I supposed to do anything at all?"

"I just want to talk to you." She said with utmost sincerity.

 _Huh?_

He was confused. All those drawn out conclusions of character he just formed earlier lingered, but he wasn't sure if he should trust them. What did she mean by talking to him? Was there a specific topic at hand, something related to his studies or is this an impromptu counselling session? Did Izumi set him up for this because she got sick and tired of his attitude? Ayumi is also another possibility…all things considered about the bad blood between them. Maybe it was the beating he took two weeks ago...?

"I'm not sure if I follow…"

Yui chuckled. "It's fine. Why don't we just sit down and have some lunch, before your next class comes along?"

"L-lunch?" Kenneth stammered. He started calculating how fast he could make a beeline for the exit, and faltered when he realized how much attention he would draw into himself in such a small, yet crowded environment, that is if he didn't trip and fall and re-injure his ribs in the process.

She giggled. "Don't be shy now Sakamoto-san. It's not every time you get to have lunch with a teacher as pretty as myself."

At the end of that sentence, Kenneth's mind broke.

GIVE _ME A BREAK! I JUST WANTED TO CHEW MY GUM!_

* * *

 **I have to apologize for two things. One...I'm five months late of posting a new chapter. College life packs a lot of weight, bear with me...**

 **And then there's this chapter's misleading, well not really misleading, title, as you can probably witness from the obvious. Be rest assured however, that the following chapter will contain the aforementioned lunch with yours truly Yui Shishido...and some more drama and comedy next to more plot and character building.**

 **Reviews are welcome! Later!**

 **(P.S.) Last dialogue was re-edited.**


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